Strategies Review 2019: Gurus deliver solid gains as markets recover

This time last year, UK investors were reeling from a difficult end to 2018. Tumbling equity prices in the final quarter had taken the FTSE All-Share to a two-year low. Growth and momentum strategies were notable losers and we were left wondering whether they’d finally run out of steam after more than a decade of powering market returns. Fast forward 12 months – to the start of 2020 – and the jury is still out on whether the UK momentum trade is fading. Index prices bottomed-out as 2019 got under way and the market did reasonably well in a pretty unsettling political and economic climate. Overall, it turned out to be a solid year for the 60 guru-inspired investment strategies tracked by Stockopedia. And unlike previous years, we saw much more even set of average performance results across styles spanning Value, Growth, Quality and Income. Indeed, the UK general election in mid-December (resulting in a large Conservative majority) paved the way for an uptick in gains right across these major styles – laying the foundations for a strong Santa Rally. About the Guru Strategies 2019 was the eighth…