兩隻具有動量、折扣和超過 6.1% 股息的科技基金
我是 LongbridgeAI，我可以總結文章信息。這篇文章強調了兩個以科技為重點的封閉式基金，分別是黑石科技與私募股權定期信託（BTX）和黑石科學與技術信託（BST），作為有吸引力的投資機會。兩者都提供高收益（分別為 6.8% 和 6.1%）、顯著的淨資產價值折扣以及強勁的動能。BTX 專注於激進增長，包括像 Anthropic 這樣的上市前公司，而 BST 則採取保守的策略，持有大盤科技股，並使用覆蓋性認購策略來獲取股息。作者預計，由於收益率相對於淨資產價值的下降，股息將會增長
One of the best things about high-yielding closed-end funds (CEFs) is that they can post big gains and be strong bargains at the same time.
That’s a tougher circle to square with stocks: It’s hard to argue, for example, that NVIDIA (NVDA) and Apple (AAPL) are “cheap” now, given the strong runs they’ve been on.
But a single CEF can (and regularly does) offer both growth and value. In fact, it’s something we love to see, because it shows a fund is already rising, thanks to the momentum of its underlying portfolio (referred to as its “net asset value,” or NAV, in CEF-speak).
When CEF investors (who are notoriously slow to respond to changes in the market) notice that growth, we can expect the difference between the fund’s market price and its per-share NAV to narrow, cutting its discount to NAV—a key valuation figure for CEFs—as it does.
And that’s before we talk about the dividends: The average CEF yields 8.6%, according to data from my CEF Insider service.
I brought up Apple and NVIDIA a second ago for a reason, because it’s in tech where we’re getting our best shot at these “triple play” CEFs—with high dividends, attractive discounts and momentum behind them. Let’s analyze two funds from the sector to see this phenomenon at work.
2 “Triple Play” Tech CEFs (With Yields Up to 6.8%)
Those would be the BlackRock Technology and Private Equity Term Trust (BTX), with a 6.8% yield; and the BlackRock Science and Technology Trust (BST), which yields 6.1%.
The first thing to note is that both funds yield less than the 8.6% the average CEF pays. But we’re okay with that because it’s for the best of reasons: They’ve both posted strong price gains this year, and dividend yields move down as prices rise:
So we’ve got prices up, yields down. Let’s throw in the other element we want to discuss: those discounts to NAV.
As you can see above, despite their price gains this year, these two funds sport wide discounts. BST’s 8.5% markdown (shown in orange above), for example, is well below the 2.8% discount at which it’s averaged over the last five years.
BTX’s 11% discount (in purple) is slightly narrower than the 12.4% it’s averaged in that time, but bear in mind that this fund traded around a 1% discount a year ago, before concerns over the Iran conflict and higher interest rates flared.
This tells us there’s plenty of unrealized upside with BTX as rates eventually moderate. That makes both of these CEFs bargains with more upside ahead.
Now let’s look at their portfolios, because these are two different tech CEFs that complement each other nicely.
The Portfolios
We’ll start with BTX, which, as the name says, holds leading tech firms—NVIDIA is a top holding, along with Fabrinet (FN), a maker of much of the tech behind the AI buildout. But BTX also gives us exposure to pre-IPO companies, including Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot.
That is, of course, an aggressive approach, and it’s reflected in the fund’s roughly 40% price gain so far this year.
BST, meantime, takes a more conservative approach. NVIDIA is still a top holding, but it’s accompanied by well-established firms with deep “moats” surrounding their businesses: Broadcom (AVGO) and Apple round out the top three holdings, while Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOGL) are among BST’s top-10 positions, as well.
In addition, BST funds its 6.1% dividend using a covered-call strategy. This involves selling call options, or the right to buy its holdings at a fixed price and date in the future. BST then collects fees for those rights, which it uses to fund its dividend.
The downside? This strategy can cap its best stocks’ gains as they’re sold, which is part of the reason why BST’s price gain has lagged that of BTX this year (along with its conservative, large cap–based approach).
That’s a nice setup for us to talk a bit more about these funds’ payouts—and why I expect them to grow.
The Dividends
One advantage of these funds’ reduction in yields (again, due mainly to their prices rising) is that their lower yields are easier for management to cover with portfolio gains. Indeed, both funds’ yields are well below the total returns they’ve delivered on a NAV basis this year:
When this happens—falling yields and strong NAV gains—CEFs are likely to raise payouts, which I expect both of these funds to do. BST, for its part, has a history of keeping its payouts steady (partly due to its covered-call strategy).
And BTX did cut its payout last year, but as members of my CEF Insider service know, this was a result of the fund changing its management team and approach, after the previous group had raised the payout too much, too soon. Now that this correction is complete, I expect a return to payout increases, in light of the fund’s strong performance.
Taken together, these funds show how CEFs can give us both value and growth in one buy—and high (potentially growing) dividends, to boot.
Michael Foster is the Lead Research Analyst for Contrarian Outlook. For more great retirement income ideas, click here for our latest report “Indestructible Income: 5 Bargain Funds with Steady 10% Dividends.”