Sky-high inflation and rising interest rates saw many tech stocks tumble last year. Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (LSE:SMT) was no exception due to its tech-heavy portfolio. Nonetheless, a turnaround could happen this year with the rebound of three key stocks, which could entice me to start a position.
1. Moderna
The first is the Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA). The renowned vaccine maker is the fund’s biggest holding at 10.6%. Having seen a 70% drop last year, it was one of main culprits behind the fall in the Scottish Mortgage share price. Nevertheless, Moderna stock has rallied a respectable 65% from its bottom and is now up 10% this year. The question now is whether it can continue its strong momentum for the rest of the year.
With Covid vaccine revenue expected to continue waning as each quarter goes by, its most reliable source of income is going to slowly taper away, in the absence another serious variant or pandemic. However, Moderna is more than just its Covid vaccines. It’s got a big pipeline of therapies and vaccines in the making, with two in particular gaining lots of prominence over the past month.
The first is its vaccine for skin cancer, which passed its stage 2 trials, and is now waiting for stage 3 trials to commence. The second would be its trials with the RSV vaccine, which have shown to be very promising with over 80% efficacy. Provided these shots get through their next stage trials and get regulatory approval, Moderna stock could rally and send the Scottish Mortgage share price back up.
2. ASML
The portfolio’s second-biggest holding is ASML (NASDAQ:ASML), which accounts for 6.7% of its positions. Given the semiconductor sell-off in 2022, the decline in ASML stock definitely put downward pressure on the trust’s shares.
Having said that, a reversal for the industry could already be in motion. ASML shares are more than 20% up this year alongside many of its peers. This could signal that the bottom for semiconductor stocks could be in.
After all, TSMC‘s chief executive CC Wei thinks that demand for chips should start to accelerate in the second half of the year. If that proves to be true, ASML is prime to benefit given its status as one of the world’s biggest chip manufacturers.
3. Meituan
Although Meituan doesn’t rank third on the firm’s top 10 holdings, it still makes up a sizeable portion at 3.5%. The decline in Meituan shares last year was down to different reasons from its tech peers. These included its overpriced valuation multiples and Chinese lockdowns, which impacted demand.
But with China finally ditching its zero-Covid policy, the stage is set for the Meituan share price to move higher alongside other Chinese stocks in the Scottish Mortgage portfolio. These include the likes of Tencent and Pinduoduo, which are the ninth and 10th biggest positions in the portfolio.
The amount of money Chinese consumers have saved from lockdowns is now triple what it was in 2020. Pair that with additional government stimulus to get the economy growing again, and the tailwinds are extremely strong for Chinese stocks to benefit. For those reasons, I’ll be looking to buy Scottish Mortgage shares for their long-term upside potential.
