Ramona Persaud strives for the trifecta of excess returns, downside protection and a shield from volatility — SkimNews
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- Ramona Persaud oversees $59 billion in assets at Fidelity after 23 years with the firm, including the Fidelity U.S. Dividend Fund for Canadian investors, which has outpaced the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Total Return Index in Canadian dollars since she took over in 2017
- Persaud's strategy targets three goals — valuation for excess returns, quality for downside protection, and dividends for volatility protection — and she diversifies through paired competitors (Walmart and Target), turnaround plays (Starbucks, Rolls Royce Holdings), and cheap stocks uncorrelated to AI (Gilead Sciences, British American Tobacco)
- Persaud holds Canadian stocks including Alimentation Couche-Tard (a 'strong capital allocator and innovator' in convenience retail), grocer Metro, and Canadian Natural Resources, whose oil sands she calls 'long-life assets' with no U.S. equivalent
- Taiwan Semiconductor is a top holding in the fund; Persaud addresses the China-invasion risk by keeping the position size smaller than she otherwise would and pairing it with anti-correlation defensive stocks in healthcare and consumer staples
- Dividend aristocrats make up roughly 20% to 25% of the fund and include J.M. Smucker, ExxonMobil Holdings, and AbbVie, though Persaud notes the universe tends to be expensive relative to her higher-quality, cheaper fund
- Persaud has added to AbbVie and Target, calling large-cap pharmaceuticals and consumer discretionary stocks the best valuation opportunity in the U.S. because the market has been 'enamoured with AI' and overlooked 'boring' high-return sectors
Why it matters: A $59 billion manager's willingness to keep Taiwan Semiconductor despite invasion risk — while capping the position and hedging with defensives — shows how a major dividend-focused fund is pricing geopolitical tail risk into its core AI-era chip exposure. The fund's outperformance of the Dividend Aristocrats benchmark since 2017 in Canadian dollars gives Canadian investors a concrete track record against a tough-to-beat peer group.
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