Follow the crowds, or play the contrarian?

Wise heads in the investment world often say that the time to get out of a stock or fund is when everyone else is piling in. Warren Buffett famously declared: “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” But what if you could place your bets ahead of the crowd and then benefit as other investors arrive? New research from Trustnet might help you to do just that.

The analyst has just published data showing which investment trusts have been getting the most attention from investors over the course of 2024 so far. Its number crunching reveals what share leading investment trusts have been getting this year of the total number of page views on its site – and how that compares to last year. In other words, the data shows which investment trusts investors have been researching most intensively.

Now, the fact that someone researches an investment trust doesn’t necessarily mean they will go on to put money into it. Indeed, they may even be taking a closer look at an existing investment trust holding with a view to selling it. Still, in aggregate, Trustnet’s data does provide a snapshot of the funds that have been turning heads in recent months.

At the top of its list sits a familiar face Scottish Mortgage. The Baillie Gifford-managed trust has accounted for 4.26% of all page views on Trustnet’s site so far this year. That’s not surprising – the fund is one of the outstanding performers in the investment trust universe over the longer term but has had a difficult period more recently; many investors are fascinated by the question of where it goes from here. It’s also one of the biggest trusts out there.

Trustnet’s analysis of the funds creeping up on Scottish Mortgage – and getting more page views than last year – is more interesting. They include Allianz Technology Trust, Brunner Investment Trust,  Alliance Trust, Polar Capital Technology, Pershing Square and, at the top of the list, JPMorgan Global Growth & Income.

This latter fund has accounted for 3.80% of all page views on Trustnet this year and has almost doubled its share of investors’ eyeballs compared to 2023. The fund currently sits top of the five and 10-year performance tables for its sector – Global Equity Income – and has just paid a whacking dividend. Clearly, that has prompted many investors to take a closer look.

None of which is to say you should jump into any of the funds singled out by Trustnet, including JPMorgan Global Growth & Income.. But if you want to know which funds other investors are currently looking at – and which might therefore see a spike in demand – the analysis makes interesting reading.

To take a step back from individual funds, Trustnet has tracked which investment trust sectors are getting more attention. Global Equity Income is the stand-out example here, but UK Smaller Companies, Technology & Technology Innovation and North America have also all seen a spike in page views over 2024. By contrast, fewer investors this year have been researching funds in the Flexible Investment and UK Equity Income sectors.

Stock market investment is, of course, a long-term pursuit – investors aren’t traders looking to make a short-term buck. However, there is value in being able to identify trends at an early stage, particularly as investors look to diversify their portfolios and readjust periodically. In that context, Trustnet’s data might be an interesting way to kickstart such a debate.