Quote · Excess Returns
Finding Quality Growth in Emerging Markets with Ian Smith
Where this was said
Finding underappreciated quality in EM stocks
At 48:20 · chapter starts 47:00
Ian Smith walks through William Blair's three-pillar framework — quality, trajectory, underappreciation — explaining why trajectory and underappreciation drive returns while quality provides asymmetric downside protection. [1] — Ian Smith "William Blair seeks companies that are quality leaders, have improving trajectories (rising ROIC, expanding TAMs, strengthening moats), and…" 47:20
William Blair seeks companies that are quality leaders, have improving trajectories (rising ROIC, expanding TAMs, strengthening moats), and are underappreciated relative to their outlook. Quality is not the return driver — trajectory and underappreciation are. Quality is the insurance.
William Blair's quality-growth EM process starts with an opportunity set of approximately 250 higher-quality businesses globally.
William Blair uses a 10% dollarized internal rate of return as their minimum investment hurdle when evaluating EM stocks.
