Tech stocks fell when Donald Trump was elected president last November as investors rotated into banking stocks in the hope of friendly policies towards the sector from the new administration.

This trend is reversing according to Walter Price, senior portfolio manager of Allianz Technology Trust (ATT), as some aspects of the ‘Trump trade’ failed to materialise.

Price remains hopeful certain elements of Trump’s policies will see the light of day, especially his promise to bring manufacturing back to the US. For the country to remain competitive, production would have to be automated and this would boost robotics stocks.

To capitalise on this, Allianz invested in Cognex, a US robotics firm that specialises in machine vision, allowing systems to identify parts and detect faults.

The fund also added Teradyn, a semiconductor company which has acquired Denmark’s Universal Robotics, a collaborative robotics company which makes robotic arms.

Price is not placing his hopes on robotics stocks solely on Trump’s policies. He says there’s also a trend in China for more automation due to a shortage of workers because of the one child rule. Automation can also be a cheaper than moving production to countries with lower wages such as Vietnam. (DS)

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