September 11, 2025
Global Opportunities with Dividends
Executive summary
When thinking about consistent dividends, many investors’ minds are drawn to the familiarity of Canadian banks. However, there is literally a world of opportunity when seeking attractive, sustainable dividend streams from companies that appear poised to continue strengthening their balance sheet over time.
CI Global Dividend Fund is one such strategy for investors to consider when looking to generate reliable dividend income and the potential for capital growth. Its portfolio managers scour the globe looking for the best opportunities that seek to deliver compelling and consistent risk-adjusted returns1 through a range of economic and market conditions.
How to take advantage
In this article, we’ll outline recent performance drivers, portfolio positioning, and the outlook for one of Canada’s top global dividend mandates.
Market review
The second quarter of 2025 was marked by significant volatility2, triggered by political shifts in the United States focusing largely on global trade and tariff issues, in particular what the U.S. administration has dubbed "Liberation Day." Initial uncertainty led to a sharp market selloff, followed by a strong V-shaped recovery as corporate earnings exceeded expectations and secular growth themes regained traction. Technology stocks, led predominantly by NVIDIA, Microsoft and Meta, delivered outsized returns, while a weaker U.S. dollar provided a currency tailwind for Canadian investors with international exposure.
Despite heightened political and market volatility this year, CI Global Dividend Fund has maintained its defensive resilience while selectively capitalizing on thematic growth opportunities, particularly in generative AI (artificial intelligence), European infrastructure and global industrials. The strategy continues to emphasize sustainable dividend growth, durable balance sheets and bottom-up stock selection across developed markets.
Fund performance
- CI Global Dividend Fund outperformed the MSCI World Index during the initial market downturn, reflecting its defensive tilt and disciplined dividend-oriented mandate.
- The subsequent market recovery allowed the Fund to track broader indices while still benefiting from exposures to secular growth drivers.
- Key opportunistic buys included Blackstone and Starbucks, where valuations became compelling during times of notable dislocations.
- Despite limited exposure to high-flying growth names and so-called “meme” stocks, the Fund preserved capital and maintained steady dividend yield delivery relative to its peers.
Portfolio positioning
The strategy continues to emphasize bottom-up stock selection rather than top-down sector or regional calls. Current themes and allocations include the following:
- Technology and AI: Strong positions in NVIDIA and Microsoft, reflecting confidence in the multi-decade growth trajectory of generative AI, which is forecasted to expand from US$70 billion today, to over US$600 billion by 2032 (a CAGR of roughly 36%).
- European infrastructure and defence: German fiscal expansion in defence, infrastructure and labour reforms have benefited holdings such as Siemens, reinforcing Europe as a fertile ground for durable dividend-paying companies.
- Financials: Overweight positions across sub-industries, including payments, credit rating agencies and alternative asset managers, reflecting durable earnings streams rather than pure macro credit exposure.
- Health care: Underperformance weighed on results as policy headwinds (Medicare reforms, cuts by the NIH [National Institutes of Health], drug pricing pressures) and competitive dynamics (GLP-1 drug competition) depressed returns in the sector. Eli Lilly was exited as a result of valuation and evolving risks.
Recent activity and holding highlight
- Sold: Eli Lilly – as mentioned above, we exited amid high valuation, mounting competitive pressures and regulatory headwinds in the health care sector.
- Bought: Siemens – added as a beneficiary of European fiscal expansion, industrial automation and megatrends in electrification.
- Key holding highlight: Compass Group – a global leader in outsourced food services with long-term contracts, predictable cash flows, and market share growth potential in a fragmented industry.
Key risks and challenges
- Valuations: U.S. equities are historically expensive when using price-to-sales and market-cap-to-GDP metrics, necessitating caution.
- Sector misbehaviour: The health care sector’s defensive profile failed to deliver, exposing vulnerabilities to idiosyncratic and policy risks.
- Geopolitics: Policy uncertainty amid shifting U.S. leadership remains a source of volatility, although markets have become increasingly habituated to short-term shocks.
Outlook
The Fund remains positioned for resilience, with selective exposure to secular growth opportunities. We expect themes such as generative AI, European defence spending, infrastructure investment and industrial automation to drive earnings growth, while sustainable dividend policies anchor downside protection. The strategy continues to seek opportunities outside the U.S. where valuations appear more attractive, particularly across Europe and developed international markets.
Global dividend investing, made easy
Open the door to a world of opportunity with a carefully curated portfolio of companies that can consistently focus on both dividend income and capital appreciation. CI Global Dividend Fund demonstrates a disciplined, bottom-up approach that balances defensive dividend strength with selective participation in transformative global growth themes. While short-term volatility and sector headwinds persist, we believe the portfolio remains well aligned to deliver resilient income and competitive long-term performance.
1 Risk-adjusted returns: A measure of investment performance taking into consideration how much risk/volatility was assumed to generate it. Consider two investments, both of which return 10% over a given time period. The investment with the greater risk-adjusted return would be the one that experienced less price fluctuation. Two of the most commonly used measures of risk adjusted returns are Sharpe and Sortino ratios.
2 Volatility: Measures how much the price of a security, derivative, or index fluctuates. The most commonly used measure of volatility when it comes to investment funds is standard deviation.
About the Author
Ali Pervez, Vice-President, Portfolio Manager & Research Lead – Equities, brings over 10 years of industry experience to his role at CI GAM. Ali joined CI GAM in 2016 and is responsible for managing Canadian and global equity portfolios and is the research lead for consumer staples and discretionary. Before joining CI GAM, Ali was the Assistant Vice-President at Barclays Capital, responsible for equity research focused on Canadian telecom, media and technology. Before that, he was an associate analyst at National Bank, responsible for equity research, focused on Canadian consumer. Ali holds the CFA designation, the FSA credential, and Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University.
About the Author
Bunty Mahairhu, Vice-President, Portfolio Manager & Research Lead – Equities, joined CI GAM in 2016 and brings over 15 years of valuable industry experience to his role and team. At CI GAM, Bunty is the Portfolio Manager for global dividend, global financials, Canadian dividend, and Canadian value strategies. He is also the research lead, global financials. Before arriving at CI GAM, Bunty was a senior associate portfolio manager at one of Canada’s largest pension funds. Bunty holds a CFA designation and a Bachelor of Business Administration (Honors) from the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS
Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently, and past performance may not be repeated.
This document is provided as a general source of information and should not be considered personal, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice, or construed as an endorsement or recommendation of any entity or security discussed. Every effort has been made to ensure that the material contained in this document is accurate at the time of publication. Market conditions may change which may impact the information contained in this document. All charts and illustrations in this document are for illustrative purposes only. They are not intended to predict or project investment results. Individuals should seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding any particular investment. Investors should consult their professional advisors prior to implementing any changes to their investment strategies.
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Certain statements in this document are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements (“FLS”) are statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or that include words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” or “estimate,” or other similar expressions. Statements that look forward in time or include anything other than historical information are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results, actions or events could differ materially from those set forth in the FLS. FLS are not guarantees of future performance and are by their nature based on numerous assumptions. Although the FLS contained herein are based upon what CI Global Asset Management and the portfolio manager believe to be reasonable assumptions, neither CI Global Asset Management nor the portfolio manager can assure that actual results will be consistent with these FLS. The reader is cautioned to consider the FLS carefully and not to place undue reliance on FLS. Unless required by applicable law, it is not undertaken, and specifically disclaimed that there is any intention or obligation to update or revise FLS, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
