Baillie Gifford’s Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (LSE: SMT) has had a great run in 2020. Year to date, the FTSE 100-listed trust is up about 55%. The reason this trust has done so well is it has exposure to leading NASDAQ-listed technology companies such as Amazon and Tesla, many of which have performed very well this year.
Scottish Mortgage isn’t the only FTSE-listed investment trust that’s performed well in 2020, due to exposure to exciting NASDAQ-listed technology companies though. Here, I’ll highlight three other growth-focused trusts that have delivered excellent returns for investors recently.
Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust
Scottish Mortgage – which is Baillie Gifford’s flagship investment trust – seems to get all the attention when it comes to growth-focused trusts.
However, what’s interesting is that Baillie Gifford actually has a smaller growth-focused trust that has outperformed SMT recently. It’s called the Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust (LSE: USA).
This trust, which as its name suggests, is US-focused (SMT is global), aims to invest in growth companies that the portfolio manager believes have significant potential. Top holdings currently include the likes of Shopify, Amazon, Tesla, and Wayfair.
This trust was only launched in 2018, so it doesn’t have a long-term track record. Yet since its launch, it’s performed very well. Year to date, it’s up about 60%. With that kind of performance, I think it’s worth a closer look.
Ongoing charges are 0.77% per year versus 0.36% for SMT.
Allianz Technology Trust
Another tech-focused investment trust that’s performed very well recently is the Allianz Technology Trust (LSE: ATT). It actually outperformed Scottish Mortgage last year, returning 35%, versus 25% for SMT.
This trust invests with a global focus, as SMT does. Managed by the highly-experienced AllianzGI Global Technology team, it aims to invest in stocks that have the potential to be tomorrow’s Apple, Google, or Microsoft. It’s goal is to identify major trends ahead of the crowd, and hold companies that’ll create shareholder value with the introduction of new technology. Top holdings currently include the likes of Apple, Microsoft, Crowdstrike, and MongoDB.
Like Scottish Mortgage, this trust has a 5-star rating from Morningstar. For those seeking a pure technology-focused trust, I think it has a lot of potential.
Ongoing charges are slightly higher than SMT at 0.93% per year.
Smithson Investment Trust
Finally, take a look at Smithson (LSE: SSON). This is a small- and mid-cap-focused global equity trust run by the team at Fundsmith. This trust has a large weighting to the US (46% at 30 June) as well as a large weighting to the technology sector (40% at 30 June).
This is another trust that hasn’t been around for that long. It launched in October 2018. However, since then, it’s done pretty well. Last year, for example, it returned 30%, outperforming Scottish Mortgage by about 5%.
What I like about this particular trust is its focus on smaller, more under-the-radar companies. It doesn’t go for the Amazons and Teslas of the world. Instead, it invests in companies such as medical technology company Masimo and machine vision specialist Cognex. This makes it more unique and means it can help you diversify your portfolio more effectively.
Overall, I think this is a great little growth-focused investment trust that offers something different.
Ongoing charges are 0.9% per year.
