Systematic Equities Monthly Comments - February 2025

RAM Emerging Markets Equities

Emerging Markets outperformed global developed markets over the month of February, ending flat positive, as US tech weighed on developed markets.

Chinese stocks led the market higher, as the country’s tech names see a renewed interest from investors since the DeepSeek R1 model deployment in January.

The strong upside of Chinese stocks weighed on the RAM (Lux) Systematic Funds - Emerging Markets fund’s (hereinafter ‘the Fund’) (Class-IP USD net of fee*) relative performance in February, the fund ending the month just slightly behind MSCI EM TRN.**

The underweight position of the fund in India and Taiwan closely made up for the China underweight, as both countries significantly lagged the rest of the market over February.

The weakening long-term growth prospects for Nvidia have led to an underperformance of Taiwan Semiconductor along with the whole semiconductor industry.

A strong selection of companies in South Korea has also helped to mitigate the Chinese underweight, as the strategy’s picks in the country outperformed significantly.

Thanks to strong positive selection, mid caps in the fund were the best performing segment over the month, despite the negative performance of small and mid caps in the MSCI EM index.

The strategy has reduced allocation to South Korea over the month in order to reallocate towards India, reducing our underweight in the country, and to Thailand stocks, one of our strongest overweights.

*Note: IP USD share class currently registered in LU, AT, CH, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, UK, IT, NL, NO, SE, SG (foreign restricted recognised scheme). Please click on the above link to access the fund factsheet and obtain a global overview of performance since inception. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

** The portfolio is actively managed with reference to a benchmark. While the product compares its performance against the Index, it does not try to replicate this benchmark and freely selects the securities that it invests in. The deviation with this benchmark can be significant.

RAM European Market Neutral Equity

After a strong start of the year, European markets outperformed again in February as US tech weighed on global markets.

In the context of the release of more efficient models, weakening long-term growth prospects for Nvidia has led to an underperformance of the stock and the whole semiconductor industry.

The RAM (Lux) Systematic Funds –European Market Neutral Equity fund (Class-I EUR net of fee*) performed well over the month with both the main market neutral and the statistical arbitrage strategies contributing positively.

The fund’s short strategies were the best performance drivers last month, with short picks within overvalued, low-quality market segments providing the most alpha.

The fund benefitted from very strong selection within industrials, the low quality shorts of the book underperforming strongly the book’s long positions, with construction-related stocks performing the best there.

Strong selection in the consumer staples sector, beverages longs strongly outperforming fisheries shorts, also contributed very positively to the book.

Semiconductor shorts contributed positively over the month after detracting in January as the broad sector corrected in the wake of Nvidia’s less optimistic outlook.

The fund’s statistical arbitrage strategy also performed very positively, generating a return of more than 4%, as it was boosted by the momentum shifts in the market.

*Note: I EUR share class currently registered in LU, AT, CH, DE, ES, FR, UK, IT, NL, SE, SG (foreign restricted recognised scheme). Please click on the above link to access the fund factsheet and obtain a global overview of performance since inception. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

RAM European Equities

The RAM (Lux) Systematic Funds – European Equities fund (Class-IP EUR net of fee*) ended February up 1.81%, trailing its benchmark, up 3.64%, overperforming global equities.** Talks about an eventual ceasefire in Ukraine led to a surge in defense stocks, while market participants also moved towards financials, the best-performing sector in the European universe, which benefitted from strong Q4 results and a strong momentum over the month.

The fund’s underweight in Financials (especially in Major Banks) was the main performance detractor, and its underweight in Large Cap stocks also detracted. Our UK selection lagged, mainly from the surge in its Financials.

The fund's selection also lagged in Healthcare, Industrials (mainly in the defense segment) and Consumer Staples. On the style aspect, our agnostic Machine Learning book underperformed, while our value book underperformed its market equivalent.

The share of Financials in the index increased, further strengthening already high levels of concentration. This can be seen in the market cap segments' performance, as the large cap stock strongly overperformed their SMIDs peers in February.

*Note: IP EUR share class currently registered in LU, AT, CH, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, IT, NL, UK, NO, SE, SG (foreign restricted recognised scheme). Please click on the above link to access the fund factsheet and obtain a global overview of performance since inception. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

**The portfolio is actively managed using a benchmark. Although the product compares its performance to that of the MSCI Daily Net TR Europe Euro, it does not seek to replicate this benchmark and is free to choose the securities in which it invests. The difference with this benchmark may be significant.

RAM Stable Climate Global Equities

The RAM (Lux) Systematic Funds - Stable Climate Global Equities Fund (hereinafter the ‘Fund’) (Class-PI USD net of fee*) rose 0.65% in February.

Despite economic strength, the Fed maintained rates at 4.25–4.50%, signalling a delay in easing until inflation trends become clearer. Uncertainty around US monetary, fiscal, and trade policies drove market volatility and rotations out of crowded IT and consumer discretionary positions. High Dividend Yield and Low Volatility factors were key drivers of market returns, while Growth stocks and highly shorted names underperformed.

The strategy identified strong picks in Utilities, Communication Services and Consumer Discretionary. Mid cap and small cap segments significantly underperformed large caps, negatively impacting the fund. The European book ended the month up 3.7%, while the US finished flat and Asia Pacific declined by 1.5%.

In its latest rebalancing, the strategy increased exposure to IT while reducing allocations to Financials, Communication Services and Industrials.

*Note: PI USD share class currently registered in LU, AT, BE, FI, UK, NO, SE, SG (foreign restricted recognised scheme). Please click on the above link to access the fund factsheet and obtain a global overview of performance since inception. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

RAM Global Equity Income

The RAM (Lux) Systematic Funds - Global Equity Income Fund (hereinafter the ‘Fund’) (Class-IP USD net of fee*) gained 0.53% in February, underperforming its benchmark, the MSCI World High Dividend Yield Index, which rose 3.25%. **

In contrast, the MSCI World Index declined by 0.72%. Despite economic strength, the Fed maintained rates at 4.25–4.50%, signalling a delay in easing until inflation trends become clearer. Uncertainty around US monetary, fiscal, and trade policies drove market volatility and rotations out of crowded IT and consumer discretionary positions. The High Dividend Yield factor strongly outperformed, with the top quintile surpassing the rest of the market by over 3%. In contrast, the top quintile of share buybacks ended in line with the market.

Mid cap and, to a greater extent, small cap segments significantly underperformed large caps, negatively impacting the fund. Most of the underperformance stemmed from US selections, particularly in Healthcare, Consumer Staples, and IT sectors. In its latest rebalancing, the fund reduced allocations to Consumer Discretionary and Communication Services while increasing exposure to IT and Industrials.

*Note: IP USD share class currently registered in LU, AT, CH, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, IT, NL, NO, SE, SG (foreign restricted recognised scheme). Please click on the above link to access the fund factsheet and obtain a global overview of performance since inception. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

** The portfolio is actively managed with reference to a benchmark. While the product compares its performance against the Index, it does not try to replicate this benchmark and freely selects the securities that it invests in. The deviation with this benchmark can be significant.

RAM Global Market Neutral Equity

The RAM (Lux) Systematic Funds - Global Market Neutral Equity Fund (Class-PI USD net of fee*) returned 0.34% in February, amid a US equity downturn led by growth stocks. Information technology continued its weak start to 2025 after a strong 2024.

Despite economic strength, the Fed held rates at 4.25–4.50%, signalling a delay in easing until inflation trends become clearer.

Uncertainty around US monetary, fiscal, and trade policies led to market swings and rotations out of crowded IT/consumer discretionary plays, benefitting our short-term statistical arbitrage engines YTD.

In February, value strategies outperformed in both the US and EU, while growth and momentum lagged.

The fund’s net long in IT detracted, as cloud-related and AI infrastructure longs corrected, partially offset by IT shorts, including semiconductor names.

Strong stock selection in Energy contributed, particularly in the short book on names with negative earnings trends. The fund retains a slight net short in the sector, which has underperformed YTD.

The Fund remains net long IT and increased its net long in Consumer Discretionary on weakness. It maintains a net short in Utilities and Energy.

* Note: PI USD share class currently registered in LU, CH, DE, DK, ES, FI, UK, IT, NO, SE, SG (foreign restricted recognised scheme). Please click on the above link to access the fund factsheet and obtain a global overview of performance since inception. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns

Important Information

Important Information: The sub-funds mentioned above are Sub-Funds of RAM (Lux) Systematic Funds, a Luxembourg SICAV with registered office: 14, Boulevard Royal L-2449 Luxembourg, approved by the CSSF and constituting a UCITS (Directive 2009/65/EC). Mediobanca Management Company S.A. 2 Boulevard de la Foire 1528, Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is the Management Company.

The information and analyses contained in this document are based on sources deemed to be reliable. However, RAM Active Investments S.A. cannot guarantee that said information and analyses are up-to-date, accurate or exhaustive, and accepts no liability for any loss or damage that may result from their use. All information and assessments are subject to change without notice.
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