In this insightful episode, Remy Blaire is joined by Swen Lorenz, CEO and founder of Sarnia Asset Management, to break down global investing trends as 2026 gets underway. While the U.S. market posted its third straight year of double-digit gains in 2025, international equities outperformed even more strongly surpassing domestic stocks and the S&P 500for the first time in years. Lorenz explains why he believes this may signal the beginning of a multi-year cycle where international markets, particularly the U.K., could shift from being viewed merely as diversification plays to becoming powerful growth drivers. He highlights that investors can currently access world-leading companies in the U.K. at unusually low valuations, calling it a rare generational opportunity despite ongoing political and economic headwinds.
Get the latest news and updates on FINTECH.TV
Welcome to FinTech TV.
I'm Remy Blaire.
The US stock market marked the 3rd consecutive year of double-digit gains in 2025, but international stocks did even better with returns nearly doubling.
Domestic stocks and outperforming the S&P 500 for the first time in years, and this could be the start of a multi-year cycle where international investing is not just about diversification, but also a driver of growth.
Joining me live at the New York Stock Exchange is Swen Lorenz, CEO and founder of Sarnia Asset Management.
Swen, great to have you here.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Hi, good morning.
It's great to be here.
Well, 2026 is well underway, and when we're talking about the markets and opportunity, I think diversification is something that keeps on coming up.
So when it comes to the UK market, give us an idea of what is actually happening on the ground.
Well, you can buy into world leading and market leading companies right now at a price earnings ratio of 3, and in a way I could almost stop here now because in the Western world there is no other place, there's no other major country where you can buy quality assets at such low valuations.
I think it's a generational investment opportunity.
And the UK is currently obviously undergoing some political challenges as well, to put it like that.
But in terms of buying assets on the cheap, investing money, and diversifying, as you, as you rightly put it, into a different market that is running at a, you know, slightly different pace than the US, that's the big opportunity right now.
And you mentioned valuation, so why does the UK market trade up persistently low valuations?
Can you walk us through this compared to the US markets?
Most people will wonder whether it's all down to Brexit, and let's just keep in mind Brexit was 10 years ago, so this situation has obviously moved on since then.
It is entirely true that the UK as a, as a market and as an economy is somewhat trailing behind the US in terms of innovation, in terms of governance as well.
And that trick that trickles down to boards as well, boards of publicly listed companies.
Capital allocation is much more old fashioned and slow and less aggressive than in the United States.
So for example, many companies are still primarily focusing on paying dividends instead of buying back stocks.
And if your stock is trading at a single digit price earnings ratio and you've got a yield for government bonds of 5%, it makes no sense in the world to pay out dividends.
You should aggressively buy back stocks.
That's changing right now.
Things are moving on in the United Kingdom.
And the opportunity is still early stage, so this is what you have to make use of right now in my view.
Yeah, and you just mentioned a keyword there, and that has changed.
So tell us what you expect to see, not just in the short term, but also the medium and long term.
So M&A action, corporate action is There's a lot going on in the UK, uh, especially because of American companies and American private equity companies moving in and buying these quality assets and market leading companies on the cheap.
That's not always good for investors, but at the same time, if you get a bid for a company that you own shares in and you get overnight 50 or 70% more, who's to complain?
Um.
And in terms of what else is moving on, where the opportunity lies, boards, I think, are currently starting to embrace global best practices for governance, so capital allocation, executive compensation.
In a structured in a more effective and aggressive way, all of these subjects are advancing.
I think this opportunity is only going to last for 3 or 4 or 5 years because eventually the market will have re-rated to a point where prices are comparable to other markets.
So you know, as I said before, I'm sounding like a broken record.
This is an opportunity to look at right now.
Yeah, and of course when we're talking about markets it's all about performance.
So I understand you've said that you strongly believe that to meaningfully outperform the market you actually need to be right about something that others do not yet believe in.
So what are you focused on?
Absolutely.
So I call this nonconsensus viewpoints.
You don't just have to be right, you have to be right about something that the market hasn't recognized yet.
In 22 and sort of like from 22 to 24, I was going on and evangelizing about UK banks, and these stocks have done phenomenally well.
Back in 22, no one wanted to hear about that.
I would say right now when it comes to the UK market and non-consensus viewpoints, look at pubs, look at house builders.
These are in a way quite basic industries, but the UK for example, has the worst housing shortage of any major European country.
The government is now pushing to change that, and these companies will benefit from it, and they're trading at ridiculously low valuation.
So I think this is where in the next couple of months and years, that's where the opportunity lies.
Well, Sven, thank you so much for joining me here at the New York Stock Exchange, and thank you so much for sharing your insights and perspective regarding the UK market, which is just across the pond.
Pleasure to be here.
Thanks for your time.
Thank you.