AI has fuelled exceptional market performance, but also created opportunities in overlooked areas of the global equity market. In this FundCalibre podcast, Sam Witherow, co-manager of the JPM Global Equity Income fund, discusses why high-quality companies have lagged despite strong fundamentals.
The interview covers how dividend investing can still capture technology-led growth and where the most attractive opportunities lie outside the AI winners as well as looking at US equities, semiconductor leaders, financials, healthcare and medtech, before looking at market valuations, geopolitical risks and the outlook for global equities.
Why you should listen to the interview: This interview offers a balanced perspective on AI. It explains where dividend investors can still access growth, why quality companies may be overlooked today, and how a global equity income portfolio can provide both attractive returns and greater resilience.
This interview was recorded on 21 July 2026. Please note, answers are edited and condensed for clarity. To gain a fuller understanding and clearer context, please listen to the full interview.
Interview highlights:
Why AI is creating opportunities beyond technology
“I think we’ve had a bit of a journey this year, from a bit of consolidation at the beginning of the year, then the shock of the war in Iran and the ramifications that’s had for global energy prices.
“But the one constant, more or less through the last six months – and indeed the last 18 months – has been a bit of euphoria, frankly, about this new technology, AI, and the impact it’s going to have on markets, society and the world.
“We can see that very clearly in the shape of US equity market performance. High beta and high momentum stocks have enjoyed, by some measures, possibly the best rolling 12-month performance they’ve ever had since the end of the Second World War. That gives you some context as to the backdrop we’re witnessing.
“I would extend that beyond the US to Japan and emerging markets as well, where we’ve seen very similar things play out. Now, this isn’t happening in a vacuum. AI is happening, it is impacting the world at an incredibly fast rate, and it is reshaping the earnings picture for global equities.
“But it is also creating this sort of black hole of attention, sucking all the focus out of the market. We think that’s leaving a lot of opportunity on the table. The area we particularly point to is the underperformance of what people broadly term high-quality businesses over the last 12 months.
“In some senses that’s simply the flip side of enthusiasm for high beta, high momentum stocks, but to us it looks like the standout opportunity because, over the long run, businesses with high returns on capital and strong free cashflow margins remain your friend.”
How a dividend strategy still captures AI growth
“We’ve always had this flexibility within our process that says we’ll look at any global large-cap company that pays a dividend. We break our universe into three cohorts: the fastest dividend growers, the classic high-yield stocks, and then the resilient compounding dividend growers that sit in the middle.
“It’s true that part of this high-octane technology rally has been driven by companies that don’t yet pay dividends, and we’re quite style-pure when it comes to that. We’re simply not going to buy companies that don’t pay dividends.
“However, there is also a large part of the technology universe that does pay dividends and has been growing those dividends alongside exceptional earnings growth. Nvidia, for example, recently increased its dividend by 25%. The yield remains modest, but it’s beginning to demonstrate that some of these businesses are maturing.”
Why financials remain one of the fund’s highest convictions
“There absolutely is a world outside technology. What’s interesting is that, for most of the last three years, there really hasn’t been much earnings growth outside technology. We’ve described it as a prolonged COVID hangover, where all the inventory built up during the pandemic has gradually been worked through.
“Financials are one of the biggest beneficiaries of that broadening earnings story. We divide the sector into two groups. First are the asset-light, very high-quality businesses such as Mastercard and several stock exchanges, which have been wonderful dividend compounders for many years.
“The second group is banks. They’re still trading at discounts despite generating returns that are every bit as healthy as they were before the Global Financial Crisis. The difference today is they’re doing it with dramatically stronger balance sheets and much lower leverage. That’s why we remain overweight banks globally.
“We own companies such as Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, NatWest and DBS in Singapore. Today we’re around 2% overweight the sector, earning dividend yields of roughly 4% to 5%, alongside dependable dividend growth.”
Healthcare: the forgotten quality opportunity
“One area we’ve become increasingly interested in is med tech. Within the US portfolio we now own three companies operating in that space. Historically, med tech sat at the intersection of healthcare and technology.
“These were high-quality industrial businesses, growing steadily in the high single digits, and they consistently traded on premium valuations because investors appreciated their resilience. Now that AI has become the market’s shiny new object, those businesses have de-rated significantly.
“The interesting thing is that the underlying fundamentals haven’t really changed. These remain businesses with attractive competitive positions, resilient earnings and long-term growth prospects. What has changed is simply how much investors are prepared to pay for them.
“For us, that means they’ve moved from a group we always admired but felt was too expensive, to one that now sits firmly within our investment universe. As a result, we’ve added several new positions and today we’re around 3% overweight healthcare. It’s a good example of where we think markets are overlooking genuine quality in favour of chasing excitement elsewhere.”
Conclusion: From technology and financials to healthcare and quality businesses, Sam Witherow explores how disciplined stock selection and dividend growth can help investors build resilient portfolios.
It also offers valuable insight into balancing growth opportunities with downside protection, making it an excellent discussion for anyone investing globally over the long term.
Past performance is not a reliable guide to future returns. You may not get back the amount originally invested, and tax rules can change over time. The writer’s views are their own and do not constitute financial advice.
This information should not be relied upon by retail clients or investment professionals. Reference to any particular investment does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell the investment.
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