The move away from Big Tech and cash savings continued last month, with SIPP and ISA customers favouring emerging markets, high dividend payers and contrarian funds instead.

Tom’s picks

In January, Fidelity’s investment director Tom Stevenson published three fund picks for 2026: Dodge & Cox Worldwide – Global Stock, Fidelity Special Situations, and Lazard Emerging Markets. Personal investors were clearly paying attention, as all three were best-sellers in January and February.

The funds offer different ways to diversify your portfolio away from Big Tech. Dodge & Cox is a value-oriented fund with a wide range of holdings. Only half the portfolio is invested in the US – well below a neutral weighting – while Europe, the UK and emerging markets are over-represented.

Fidelity Special Situations also hunts for cheap stocks, but it has its eyes squarely on the UK market. Fund manager Alex Wright has years of experience seeking out London-listed companies going through tough times. The portfolio is skewed towards medium- and smaller-sized businesses, but some big names like Aviva and British American Tobacco feature among its top holdings too.

Last up: Lazard. Lazard Emerging Markets mainly invests in Asia and Latin America. It looks for companies that are cheaper than the market but with better fundamental prospects. Emerging markets were among the best performing equity assets last year, but conflict in the Middle East is weighing on the region’s performance this month.

Annual performance to 31 December (%)
2020-2021
2021-2022
2022-2023
2023-2024
    2024-2025   

Dodge & Cox Worldwide Global Stock Fund
21.4  
   4.91
 13.9
 6.98
 15.8

Fidelity Special Situations Fund
    23.7
 -0.47
 6.26
 16.4
 25.6

Lazard Emerging Markets Fund
 6.72
 -5.05
 15.4
 9.20
 32.4

Growth at a reasonable price

‘Growth at a reasonable price’ – or GARP – is also proving popular with ISA and SIPP customers. In simple terms, GARP funds try to find companies that are growing faster than the market but which are also cheaper than their peers. The strategy has taken off in recent years.

Three GARP funds run by Artemis – Artemis SmartGARP, European Equity Fund, Artemis SmartGARP Global Emerging Markets Equity Fund and Artemis SmartGARP UK Equity Fund – were best-sellers in January and February. All three have had a fantastic couple of years, posting gains well ahead of their respective benchmarks.

For Artemis, GARP involves running a digital stock screen every day, which incorporates millions of data points. This ‘systematic’ approach is designed to remove behavioural biases. There is also a layer of human oversight, however, with fund managers reviewing the most promising-looking companies.

Annual performance to 31 December (%)
2020-2021
2021-2022
2022-2023
2023-2024
2024-2025

Artemis SmartGARP European Equity Fund
19.5
2.02
15.1
16.4
55.9

Artemis SmartGARP Global Emerging Markets Equity Fund
15.8
-5.24
12.4
14.5
30.3

Artemis SmartGARP UK Equity Fund
30.8
6.33
3.57
24.5
39.9

Dividend giants

Rapid growth can come at the expense of generous shareholder payouts. It seems that ISA and Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) investors are still hungry for dividends, however. The Fidelity Global Dividend Fund and Artemis Global Income Fund are some of the most consistently popular funds on the Fidelity platform.

The former is an actively managed fund that targets companies with healthy yields underpinned by rising income. The portfolio invests across a variety of sectors and geographies, offering a good level of diversification (the US represents less than a quarter of the portfolio). It also aims to deliver less volatility than the wider market, which may be attractive in today’s unpredictable world. 

The Artemis Global Income Fund has a different focus. It is heavily weighted towards the financial sector and has some chunky exposure to emerging markets. Like the Fidelity fund, however, it has limited its US holdings and is looking for generous dividend yields. Free cash flow is its key metric.

The fund also stands out for its focus on lesser-known companies. While familiar names like Samsung and Standard Chartered feature among its top holdings, others – such as Hanwha Aerospace – are less widely covered in the UK.

Finally the Vanguard Global Equity Income Fund has also just entered our SIPP top 10. This actively managed fund also takes a global approach to investing in dividend-paying companies.
 

Annual performance to 31 December (%)
2020-2021
2021-2022
2022-2023
2023-2024
2024-2025

Fidelity Global Dividend 
12.8
0.17
9.54
13.5
15.1

Artemis Global Income
26.5
-2.54
9.71
26.8
45.1

Vanguard Global Equity Income 
21.3
10.2
5.4
13.6
19.0

World trackers

Funds that passively track the global market remain a staple for SIPP and ISA customers. In February, the Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index and the HSBC FTSE All World Index proved particularly popular. These tracker funds offer exposure to both developed and emerging markets for a relatively low fee.

This is different to the Fidelity World Index, for example, which focuses almost exclusively on developed markets.

Annual performance to 31 December (%)
2020-2021
2021-2022
2022-2023
2023-2024
2024-2025

Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index
18.9
-8.01
14.7
18.3
13.6

HSBC FTSE All World Index
20.1
-7.82
15.4
19.4
14.5

Best-selling ISA funds in February

Lazard Emerging Markets Fund

Artemis Global Income Fund
Fidelity Special Situations Fund
Dodge & Cox Worldwide – Global Stock Fund
Fidelity Global Dividend Fund
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity Fund
Artemis SmartGARP Global Emerging Markets Equity Fund
Artemis SmartGARP UK Equity Fund
Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund
HSBC FTSE All World Index 

Source: Fidelity International, net ISA sales from 1 to 28 February 2026 for Personal Investors only.
 

Best-selling SIPP funds in February

Fidelity Special Situations Fund
Lazard Emerging Markets Fund
Artemis Global Income Fund
Fidelity Global Dividend Fund
Dodge & Cox Worldwide – Global Stock Fund
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity Fund
Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund
Fid FIF Multi Asset Open Strategic Fund
Vanguard Global Short-Term Bond Index Fund
Vanguard Global Equity Income Fund

Source: Fidelity International, net SIPP sales from 1 to 28 February 2026 for Personal Investors only.

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