Garbarino of Lemanik focuses on fundamentals and names four global stocks

An equity market that remains moderately supportive, where company selection matters increasingly more than the chance of benefiting from a broad-based rise in valuations. This is the reading put forward by Filippo Garbarino, manager of the Lemanik Global Equity Opportunities fund, in a commentary released on 20 October. His focus remains on defense and technology, with four companies cited as examples of the fund’s selection criteria: RTX Corporation, KLA, ASML Holding and Vertiv. The key point of the analysis is companies’ ability to deliver financial results consistent with the expectations built into prices.

A resilient but more selective market

Garbarino describes the third quarter of 2026 as a period of resilience for global equities, despite a complex macroeconomic and geopolitical backdrop. In his account, large technology companies and investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure continued to support earnings, while market leadership narrowed. Smaller-cap companies and interest-rate-sensitive sectors faced greater difficulties; energy, by contrast, benefited from the recovery in oil. In the manager’s view, this is a setting that calls for distinguishing between the resilience of indices and the outlook for individual companies.

According to Garbarino, market support may come from strong earnings and continued share buybacks by companies. The manager nevertheless expects returns to depend increasingly on corporate results and less on multiple expansion. The distinction concerns how returns are generated: a stock price can rise because earnings improve, or because investors are willing to pay more for each euro of earnings. In the framework described by Lemanik, the quality of growth must therefore play a decisive role.

The selection criteria and the four companies

The selection favors companies with solid fundamentals, revenues and operating results growing faster than the market, higher profitability and relatively limited debt. The statement refers to EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization), ROIC (Return on Invested Capital) and ROE (Return on Equity). In the manager’s analysis, these indicators go hand in hand with earnings quality, so as to assess the substance of the results rather than just their quantitative growth.

The four names mentioned reflect this approach across different areas. RTX Corporation represents exposure to defense and aerospace; KLA and ASML Holding belong to the semiconductor supply chain; Vertiv operates in data center infrastructure. The statement presents them as companies meeting the fund’s criteria, without providing target prices or indications of the weight of each position. Their inclusion in the analysis should be read in the context of the strategy outlined by Garbarino, not as a blanket recommendation for every portfolio.

The portfolio’s sector positioning

The positioning described in the commentary distinguishes between individual segments and broader sectors. Garbarino indicates an overweight in financials, industrials, chemicals and consumer discretionary, an underweight in technology and a healthcare exposure in line with the benchmark used by the fund. He also notes the absence of banks, technology hardware, consumer staples, pharmaceuticals, real estate, energy and utilities. The absence of banks therefore does not mean the entire financial sector is excluded, just as the selection of some technology stocks can coexist with a lower overall weight for the sector.

The analysis therefore maintains a constructive view on equities, accompanied by greater discipline in company selection. For the manager, earnings, profitability, balance sheets and the quality of results are the elements on which to base selection in a less uniform market phase. The valuations and stocks mentioned are those in the Lemanik commentary of 20 October 2026 and describe the manager’s approach as of that date.