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For over a decade, American investors have been dining out on a single dish: Big Tech. The “Magnificent Seven” have delivered more sugar highs than a Halloween candy binge. But here's the inconvenient truth: 82 of the top 100 performing stocks in the MSCI All Country World Index over the past decade weren’t American, highlights Nicholas Vardy, editor of The Global Guru.

Read that again. Despite the breathless hype surrounding Silicon Valley, most of the world's best-performing companies have been quietly compounding shareholder wealth outside US borders. And yet, the average investor’s portfolio remains dangerously overweight US equities.

That’s not just recency bias. It’s strategic malpractice. Since early 2022, the Magnificent 7 have posted a collective return of 62%. Not bad. But what’s flying under the radar? The top seven contributors in the MSCI EAFE Index returned 55% over the same period—with far less volatility.

MSCI EAFE Index (Three-Year Chart)

Data by YCharts

Companies like Novo Nordisk AS (NVO), ASML Holding NV (ASML), SAP SE (SAP), and Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) are firing on all cylinders. These aren’t moonshot micro-caps — they’re global titans riding the following secular tailwinds:

• GLP-1 weight-loss drugs
• Global semiconductor demand
• Automation and industrial AI
• Rising interest rates after a decade of suppression

If you’re still allocating capital based on ZIP code rather than fundamentals, you’re already behind.

About the Author

Based in London, Nicholas Vardy is a widely recognized expert on global investing, financial history, and trading psychology. A former global emerging markets portfolio manager for Janus Henderson, Mr. Vardy is currently portfolio manager at VFO asset management, a family office. He has been a regular commentator on CNN International and Fox Business Network.

Mr. Vardy has been an invited speaker to Cambridge University's Judge Business School, the University of Chicago's Booth Graduate School of Business, NYU Stern Business School, and the Corvinus Business School in Budapest, Hungary. He is currently completing a forthcoming book: This Time It's Different': A History of Financial Manias.

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