With the equities markets touching new highs, most U.S. stocks are hovering at or above fair value. However, exchange traded fund investors can still find opportunities in technology and dividend investments.
“The valuation of the market is at the higher end of a range of fair value and it’s pretty consistent with what we’ve seen, in terms of economic data, broadly speaking, getting better,” David Kostin, chief U.S. strategist at Goldman Sachs, said in a CNBC report.
Given the outlook for everything from economic growth the the narrow dispersion of stock returns and valuations, Kostin argues that stock pickers will have a harder time singling out bets.
“Everything’s basically in a very tight cluster and that suggests again there’s less stock picking opportunities,” Kostin said. “It’s just a more challenging market.”
Alternatively, the strategist suggests that investors should look for “pockets of opportunity” through thematic investments. Specifically, equity traders should increase risk with the tech sector, “the most attractively valued part of the market,” or dividend-paying companies that have returned cash to shareholders.
With ETFs, investors can gain broad exposure to asset classes and specific themes.