Fixed income
Fixed income perspective: preferred securities
An often overlooked asset class, preferred securities can offer higher, tax-advantaged income potential compared to other fixed income sectors. Primarily investment grade securities, their low correlation to other fixed income sectors and equities may also strengthen portfolio construction in an uncertain environment. Market inefficiencies may also provide opportunities to add alpha in actively managed strategies.
As the U.S. Federal Reserve has begun cutting interest rates, investors will continue to seek higher yielding fixed income asset classes. We believe preferred securities offer many additional benefits, including:
- Tax-advantaged income potential, since many preferred security structures pay qualified dividend income (QDI)
- Predominantly investment grade securities to help manage credit risk
- Reduced interest rate sensitivity through non-fixed-rate coupon structures
- Inefficiencies that may create alpha opportunities for active managers
- Solid fundamentals of the banking sector, the largest segment of the preferred universe
What is a preferred security?
Preferred securities don’t fit neatly into a traditional asset allocation category, as they contain features of both stocks and bonds. A preferred security can be classified as either debt or equity on the balance sheet, depending on its features. The easiest way to identify preferred securities is by their placement within the corporate capital structure.
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Endnotes
The views and opinions expressed are for informational and educational purposes only as of the date of production/writing and may change without notice at any time based on numerous factors, such as market or other conditions, legal and regulatory developments, additional risks and uncertainties and may not come to pass. This material may contain “forward-looking” information that is not purely historical in nature. Such information may include, among other things, projections, forecasts, estimates of market returns, and proposed or expected portfolio composition. Any changes to assumptions that may have been made in preparing this material could have a material impact on the information presented herein by way of example. Performance data shown represents past performance and does not predict or guarantee future results. Investing involves risk; principal loss is possible.
All information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy is not guaranteed. There is no representation or warranty as to the current accuracy, reliability or completeness of, nor liability for, decisions based on such information and it should not be relied on as such. For term definitions and index descriptions, please access the glossary on nuveen.com. Please note, it is not possible to invest directly in an index.
A word on risk
This information represents the opinion of Nuveen and is not intended to be a forecast of future events and thus is no guarantee of any future result. It is not intended to provide specific advice and should not be considered investment advice of any kind. Information was obtained from third party sources that we believe to be reliable but are not guaranteed as to their accuracy or completeness. This report contains no recommendations to buy or sell specific securities or investment products. All investments carry a certain degree of risk, including possible loss of principal and there is no assurance that an investment will provide positive performance over any period of time. Investing in preferred securities entails certain risks, including preferred security risk, interest rate risk, income risk, credit risk, non-U.S. securities risk and concentration/nondiversification risk, among others. There are special risks associated with investing in preferred securities, including generally an absence of voting rights with respect to the issuing company unless certain events occur. Also in certain circumstances, an issuer of preferred securities may redeem the securities prior to a specified date. As with call provisions, a redemption by the issuer may negatively impact the return of the security held by an account. In addition, preferred securities are subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments in a company’s capital structure and therefore will be subject to greater credit risk than those debt instruments. Credit risk is the risk that an issuer of a security will be unable to make dividend, interest and principal payments when due. Interest rate risk is the risk that interest rates will rise, causing fixed income securities prices to fall. Income risk is the risk that the income will decline because of falling market interest rates. This can result when an account invests the proceeds from new share sales, or from matured or called fixed income securities, at market interest rates that are below the account’s current earnings rate. An investment in foreign securities entails risks such as adverse economic, political, currency, social or regulatory developments in a country including government seizure of assets, lack of liquidity and differing legal or accounting standards (non-U.S. securities risk). Preferred security investments are generally invested in a high percentage of the securities of companies principally engaged in the financial services sector, which makes these investments more susceptible to adverse economic or regulatory occurrences affecting that sector concentration/nondiversification risk). It is important to review your investment objectives, risk tolerance and liquidity needs before choosing an investment style or manager.
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