Many high-quality companies have recently been shunned by investors in favour of beaten-down value stocks amid coronavirus vaccine hopes. That presents an opportunity to be contrarian and we’ve spotted a way to take advantage of such price weakness.

Investors have started to realise they don’t need to pay high multiples to find growth. As such, many stocks on higher ratings like the lockdown winners have eased back as investors rotate towards stocks formerly perceived as lockdown losers but now with greater potential for an earnings recovery.

However, the high-quality companies commanded premium ratings for good reason, and history shows rallies in value stocks are not long-lived, so now could be the time to add exposure to quality stocks while ratings are looking less rich.

A great way to access these names is through investment trust BlackRock Throgmorton (THRG), which invests primarily in UK small and mid-caps.

Its top holdings include tech stock Gamma Communications (GAMA:AIM) and miniature wargame maker Games Workshop (GAW). The latter has fallen by 17% since early November and Gamma is down more than 6%, yet both have delivered consistent earnings upgrades this year and have good growth prospects ahead.

The growth outlook is also good for portfolio company Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH), down 10% in a matter of weeks.

Other holdings include defence technology firm Avon Rubber (AVON) and retailer Watches of Switzerland (WOSG).

The trust has 37% of the portfolio in industrials and financial services, two sectors firmly in the value bracket, and so still has the ability to capture a good amount of the upside if the rotation into value does end up continuing for longer than expected.

In terms of performance, Throgmorton has had bumpy years with performance in share price terms typically having fallen one year and gained the next in the past decade, but for example the 6.5% fall in 2018 was followed up with a 60% gain in 2019. The trust has achieved 18.49% annualised returns over five years.

On the face of it, the trust’s ongoing charge of 0.59% a year looks very reasonable, but it’s important to know the trust also charges an annual performance fee if it outperforms its Numis Smaller Companies plus AIM benchmark by 15%. In this case, the ongoing charges figure rises to 1.75% a year.

It’s also worth noting that the trust can profit if certain share prices fall, through short selling. This increases the risk of the trust and so any investor must be comfortable with this point before buying the shares.

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