Revenue margins are getting squeezed as inflation stays at elevated ranges, with a slew of firms — together with Walt Disney , PepsiCo and Spotify — all warning of margin pressures, casting a pall over earnings progress within the quarters forward. Patrick Armstrong, chief funding officer at Plurimi Wealth, believes that is the “largest danger” for equities wanting forward. He mentioned that market expectations for S & P 500 earnings subsequent 12 months seemed too excessive, given the looming pressures. “[Earnings] downgrades could also be large. Consensus remains to be too excessive. Margin squeeze is [the] largest danger for equities,” Armstrong mentioned in notes shared with CNBC. “I do not assume we’re going into an atmosphere the place firms may have the identical form of pricing energy that they’ve loved this 12 months,” he added on CNBC’s Professional Talks Wednesday. “Shoppers are going to have their purse strings pulled by utility payments, larger mortgage prices, larger petrol costs, and there is going to be margin squeeze.” It comes after John Waldron, Goldman Sachs’ president and chief working officer, informed CNBC final month that inflation is the ” single largest challenge all of us must deal with proper now.” He mentioned wage strain and better commodity costs have been significantly difficult and will eat into firms’ margins. However some firms might buck the development, based on Armstrong, whose Plurimi AI International Fairness Technique fund beat the MSCI World index to rise 8.2% in October. “Personal sectors with defendable margins or which can be creating margin squeeze elsewhere,” Armstrong mentioned. Agribusiness One sector that the asset supervisor likes is the agribusiness sector. “Shoppers are going to face troublesome decisions on the place they spend, however consuming shall be one factor they’re all the time trying to spend cash on,” he mentioned. His high picks within the house are meals processing agency Archer-Daniels-Midland , fertilizer maker Mosaic Co ., agricultural chemical and seed firm Corteva , in addition to farming equipment producer Deere & Co . “I believe grain costs in all probability are going to proceed to maneuver larger. And farmers are going to search out each acre of arable land they’ve. So extra pesticides, extra fertilizers, extra intensive farming and money circulation to purchase farm tools as properly,” Armstrong added. Well being care He additionally likes well being care, which he described as a “very secure” sector with “predictable cashflows.” Additionally it is buying and selling at affordable multiplies, he added. His high picks within the house are Swiss pharmaceutical agency Roche for its “secure cashflows” and “enticing” yield, in addition to Denmark’s Novo Nordisk for its management within the diabetes therapy house. Luxurious Luxurious shares are one other favourite for Armstrong. “Luxurious customers aren’t struggling the identical headwinds that mass market customers are struggling. [They are] not pinched by utility payments, petrol costs and mortgage prices,” he mentioned. Furthermore, the “large” revenue margins of luxurious firms are additionally insulated from will increase in enter costs, he added. Inside the house, Armstrong’s fund owns French luxurious items firms LVMH and Hermes , given their “defendable margins” and the flexibility to be value setters. Power The vitality sector could also be the perfect performing sector by a great distance this 12 months, however Armstrong believes some vitality names are “nonetheless low-cost.” His high picks are refining agency Equinor , shale operator EOG Sources , in addition to BP and Shell . He famous that the companies are “paying down debt, shopping for again shares and [distributing] dividends.”