Navigating complexity: A smarter approach to alpha
Institutional investors face an enduring challenge – how to achieve outperformance while managing risk effectively in today’s environment. With equity markets more concentrated than ever, dominated by a handful of mega-cap tech stocks, investors must navigate an unfamiliar landscape where passive strategies provide cost-efficiency but limited upside, while traditional active approaches introduce unpredictability and higher costs.
Robeco’s Active Quant strategies offer an innovative solution. By combining systematic investing with active flexibility, they are designed to capture high, stable alpha in a risk-managed, benchmark-aware manner. Unlike many benchmark-agnostic active strategies, which might struggle when deviating too far from index heavyweights, Active Quant strives for balance – looking to seize opportunities for excess return without excessive deviation from the benchmark.
Why Active Quant?
Active Quant provides a structured, research-backed approach designed to systematically capture market inefficiencies. It integrates insights from both traditional factors (such as value and momentum) and next-generation AI-powered signals, ensuring that portfolios remain adaptable to changing market conditions.
What differentiates Active Quant
✔ Focus on systematic alpha capture – designed to identify and capitalize on investment factors such as value, momentum, quality, and analyst revisions.
✔ Risk management but not at the expense of returns – ensures benchmark alignment while striving to generate targeted outperformance.
✔ AI and next-gen insights – integrates alternative data sources, AI-powered signals, and machine learning models for enhanced decision-making.
✔ Transparency, not a black box – every investment decision is fully research-backed and explainable.
This multi-layered, disciplined approach is designed to allow Active Quant to adapt dynamically to evolving markets, making it a highly appealing solution for institutional investors.
Why now? Active Quant in today’s market
1. Addressing market concentration risks
The dominance of a few mega-cap tech stocks presents a challenge. While passive investors are fully exposed, active managers risk underweighting these stocks too aggressively. Active Quant balances benchmark awareness with factor-based stock selection, ensuring investors don’t fall behind in market trends while also capitalizing on opportunities for alpha.
2. AI and alternative data are reshaping investing
The methodology integrates aspects of AI-driven stock selection and next-gen alternative data sources. We believe that machine learning insights, such as job momentum tracking and sentiment analysis from earnings calls, have the potential to provide a cutting-edge advantage in stock selection.
3. Sustainability integration matters
With increasing ESG mandates and regulatory pressures, institutional investors often seek strategies with the potential to deliver both financial and sustainability objectives. Active Quant offers customizable sustainability integration options while monitoring ESG risks.
A robust, risk-controlled approach to outperformance
Unlike high-conviction active strategies that hold 20-50 stocks, Active Quant maintains 200-250 holdings, with the goal of ensuring greater diversification and stability. This approach’s objective is to reduce stock-specific risk while still aiming for excess returns[CA1] , striking the ideal balance between active stock selection and managed risk exposure. By combining long-term factors like value and quality with dynamic AI-driven signals, Active Quant provides what we believe to be a structured, repeatable approach to alpha generation that is adaptable to varied market conditions.
Technology meets human expertise
While Active Quant integrates AI, alternative data, and machine learning, it is not run by machines alone. Robeco’s 50+ quant researchers and portfolio managers refine and validate the models, ensuring they remain relevant, effective, and risk-aware.
By combining proprietary technology with deep human expertise, Active Quant inspires confidence with investors.
Customizable for institutional mandates
Institutional investors have unique priorities – whether it’s return profiles, sustainability integration, or risk management. Active Quant can be tailored to address:
- Specific risk-adjusted return targets
- ESG and climate-conscious investment mandates
- Regional or sector-specific allocation preferences
This customizability ensures that Active Quant may fit into institutional portfolios, with the goal of complementing existing investment approaches while providing a structured, potentially repeatable source of alpha.
Why Robeco? A legacy of quant expertise
Active Quant is built on Robeco’s 20-year track record of quant innovation. With:
🔹 A large quant team for the industry (50+ researchers)
🔹 An information ratio of 1.01 in Emerging Markets Active Quant
Robeco continues to be heavily involved in systematic investing. The firm’s commitment to ongoing research and AI integration ensures that Active Quant remains at the forefront of quant-driven focus.
Active Quant – A smart addition to institutional portfolios
Robeco’s Active Quant strategies provide:
✔ A benchmark-aware, systematic approach to alpha generation
✔ A resilient, cost-effective complement to fundamental active investing
✔ AI-enhanced signals designed to uncover new sources of return
✔ ESG integration for responsible investing
With a proven track record, deep quant expertise, and transparent investment processes, Active Quant is well suited as a smart, adaptable way forward for institutional investors.
Discover how Active Quant fits in your portfolio
Important information: This information is for professional investors only. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. The value of investments and any income derived from them can go down as well as up, and investors may not get back the full amount invested. Active strategies, including the Active Quant approach, are subject to investment risks, including market fluctuations, tracking error, and the potential for underperformance. While the strategy aims to generate excess returns, there is no guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective. The views expressed are for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice or an offer to buy or sell any financial instrument. Alpha refers to the excess return of an investment relative to a benchmark index and is a measure of performance.