Alpha Generators Explained: Boosting Returns with International Investments

What Is an Alpha Generator?

An alpha generator is a financial security or investment that produces returns exceeding a benchmark, without adding extra risk, when added to a portfolio. For investors looking to enhance their portfolios, identifying alpha generators is crucial because they offer the potential for higher returns. By strategically choosing securities that outperform market benchmarks, investors can achieve greater financial gains with minimal risk.

Banks, hedge funds, and quantitative traders will sometimes use algorithmic trading technology to help identify alpha generators that will allow them to outperform or beat the market over time. Alpha generators can range from government bonds and foreign stocks to derivative products like stock options and futures. We'll cover how these instruments work, their potential in international markets, and some real-world examples of effective alpha generators.

How an Alpha Generator Works

Alpha generators can create substantially higher returns for investors. Alpha generators may be individual stocks, bonds, or derivative products. Often alpha generators occur from the expansion of an investor’s allowable universe. For example, adding international investments to broaden an investor’s portfolio can result in higher returns from both fixed income and equity investments.

Since alpha can be a measure of the returns a portfolio produces in excess of the return estimated by the capital asset pricing model, on a risk-adjusted basis, theoretically an investor can measurably add to portfolio returns when expanding their investment universe to include new types of alpha generators.

This can all be done through modern portfolio theory, which allows for targeted expansion of the investable universe and can result in an upward shift of the efficient frontier and capital market line when alpha generators are added. With new alpha generators influencing the capital market line, an investor’s portfolio can expect to see higher returns through allocations that now integrate new alpha-generating securities into the portfolio mix with minimal risk.

Leveraging International Investments for Alpha Generation

International investments are one way to add a targeted group of alpha generators to a portfolio. Emerging market investments, in particular, are one area that can broadly be considered alpha generators. Both emerging market debt and emerging market equity offer higher returns than average benchmarks globally with some additional risk.

An investor that expands their entire portfolio to include emerging market investments can ultimately shift their capital market line higher with the integration of emerging market debt in the more conservative portion of their allocations and emerging market equity in the higher risk portions of their portfolio.

Real-World Examples of Alpha Generators

Other areas of the market can substantially add alpha, specifically through more concentrated investments. An example of this is initial public offerings (IPOs), which can be a significant alpha generator. This group of the market offers high growth potential from companies that have established significant momentum. Investors can choose to invest in individual stocks, IPO funds, or index funds that track IPOs.

Other groups of the market often identified as alpha generators include FAANG stocks, BRIC countries, and Asia ex-Japan. Some investors may also find significant alpha generation from the use of derivatives.

ESG Investing as a Modern Alpha Generator

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing refers to an increasingly popular trend that enables investors to put their money where their values are by investing in companies that adhere to specific criteria regarding environmental, governance, and social factors. ESG investing also helps steer investors away from companies that face increased risk due to their environmental or social practices. ESG investing is often referred to as socially responsible investing or sustainable investing.

A 2021 study of financial professionals, fund selectors, and institutional investors shows that sentiment is shifting toward viewing ESG investing as an alpha generator. Over 60% of those institutions surveyed said there was alpha potential to be found in ESG, while 70% of fund selectors saw alpha potential in ESG. The survey revealed investor demand is fueling the growth of ESG investing, combined with growing social awareness, concerns about climate change, and a desire to be part of the green economy.