Finance
Dot-com Era Stock Valuations Bring Bubble Fears to ESG Funds
- Rich valuations of stocks may drive funds to hit the brakes
- The funds may underperform this year after a stellar 2020
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It’s reality-check time for ESG funds.
Exchange-traded funds investing in companies with responsible environmental, social and corporate governance practices lured a record $85 billion in the U.S. and Europe in 2020, and are still raking it in. Pumped up by the flows, stocks in many of these funds are trading at frothy price-to-earnings multiples that are increasingly hard to justify. Take U.S. fuel-cell maker Plug Power Inc., for instance. The unprofitable company’s more than 2,000% rally since early 2020 outpaces even Tesla Inc’s.