When BlackRock's Tony DeSpirito searches for dividend-paying stocks for the firm's flagship equity fund, he's also paying attention to quality and value. That will come in handy in what he calls the market's "new era," now underway. It will be marked by bouts of volatility and greater differentiation between individual equities, he said in an interview with CNBC.
"On average, the Fed is going to be fighting inflation more often, and fighting deflation a lot less often," he said. "That's just a better environment for stock picking, or alpha generation ..
. So, when I think about our clients, they need to be much more discerning." DeSpirito spent the first 18 years of his financial career as a value investor before coming to BlackRock in 2014.
He's now the firm's global chief investment officer of fundamental equities and lead portfolio manager for the BlackRock Equity Dividend fund, as well as value portfolios. Reducing volatility and investing in quality stocks that have the potential for dividend growth is what DeSpirito aims for when managing the BlackRock Equity Dividend Fund , which is rated four stars by Morningstar . Its A-shares for individual investors, MDDVX, has a 30-day SEC yield of 1.
69% and an expense ratio of 0.93%. "DeSpirito and his team have consistently added value through skilled stock-picking over his tenure, starting in August 2014 through December 2023," Morningstar analyst Drew Carter wrote in February.
"A poor result in calendar 2021 was the only year s.