The recent sell-off in “growth” stocks is likely to have tested the conviction of even the most cool-headed of investors.

Since the Bank of England raised interest rates in December and the Federal Reserve signalled it is not far behind, investors have re-evaluated fast-growing companies, not least in the technology sector. These stocks had been prized not for their profits today, but for the promise of their future earnings. However, in a higher rate environment these prospective earnings are worth less.

Investors, instead, have turned their attentions to “value” stocks, such as oil majors and miners, which are assessed relative to their profits in the here-and-now. These companies trade on much lower valuations than their growth peers and have started to produce healthy profits following a challenging 2020.

It pains Questor to flag that this mindset shift has sparked share price falls among a number of the growth-focused investment trusts we have tipped. They include Monks, Scottish Mortgage’s smaller and more diversified stablemate, Allianz Technology and Polar Capital Technology, which are down between 7pc and 15pc since the start of November.

Scottish Mortgage, Britain’s largest investment trust, is another obvious casualty. Last Monday, its shares were down 33pc since early November and reached a rare discount of 8pc, according to Morningstar. Since then, shares have rallied 9pc but remain 26pc lower than November.

Managed by James Anderson (who is set to leave Baillie Gifford in April) and Tom Slater, the £16bn fund is packed full of fast-growing names, such as electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla and Covid vaccine maker Moderna, which have derated over the past few months.

Investors in Scottish Mortgage will understandably be feeling nervous, but context is important. The trust’s long-term track record is unmatched by any other mainstream fund. This is down, in part, to the investment team’s exceptional ability to identify disruptive innovators, in some cases years before they go public. Since Questor first tipped Scottish Mortgage in 2017, its share price has risen by 158pc. And over the past decade, investors have benefited from an astonishing 829pc gain. This compares to 222pc by the MSCI AC World index.

However, there is no getting away from the potential volatility associated with the team’s high conviction approach to fast-growing companies.