junes inflation figures are out and they dont look pretty us consumer prices were hotter than expected surging to a more than 40year high those rising prices are however unlikely to cool to the feds 2 target and look set to remain so for the next few years ben kirby cohead of investments at thornburg investment management told cnbcs squawk box asia on tuesday inflation will be volatile and generally higher over the next few years than in the past decade it will oscillate and whipsaw without a clear trend line added kirby coportfolio manager of the 10 billion thornburg investment income builder fund given the uncertainty around rising prices kirby believes investors should seek to have a balanced portfolio he tells cnbc some of the international and high quality companies that he holds in the thornburg investment income builder fund stock picks one of kirbys top picks is visa  he described visa as an inflation beneficiary benefiting from higher prices for goods and services that consumers use their credit cards for the company is expected to benefit from a rebound in travel as pandemic restrictions ease with consumers charging their relatively expensive airline tickets to payment companies such as visa according to kirby kirby also likes french telco orange sa as a defensive bet thats attractively valued as opposed to other more expensive defensive plays so many defensive companies today are trading at valuations that are significantly above the market and significantly above their historical premium to the market so investors are paying up for defense in many countries and in many sectors and many stocks he said orange in contrast trades at a singledigit pricetoearnings pe ratio with a really attractive dividend yield and growth prospects kirby added the stock has a trailing 12month pe ratio of 89 the lowest among its key competitors according to factset data the stock also has a 5year average dividend yield of 53 biopharmaceutical firm astrazeneca is another stock that kirby likes he described the company as toptier with doubledigit sales growth and improving cash flow generation at a relatively attractive valuation kirby said the firm boasts a pipeline of 12 potential blockbusters four of which are in the oncology division we think those are going to be big big drugs for the company and drive growth for the next few years he said read more these global stocks have a track record of earnings growth and analysts love them a recession is a given one investment advisor says and reveals his top stocks to beat it ‘outright cheap jpmorgan says theres a tactical buying opportunity in these global stocks banking giant citigroup is another stock in the funds portfolio kirby believes the stock is cheap and has ample opportunity for dividend hikes in the near term as the bank seeks to raise its payout ratio on normalized earnings up to its prepandemic level the company is also wellpositioned to pursue attractive and differentiated growth on the back of higher revenues from rising interest rates and credit card growth in the us he added the thornburg investment income builder fund had 112 billion in assets under management as of may 31 in addition to orange the funds top holdings also include french energy firm totalenergies  semiconductor giants broadcom and taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company  as well as british telco vodafone  when will inflation peak the soaring energy and food prices have made it hard to predict with any certainty when inflationary pressure will ease but kirby believes it may hit a peak in the next one to three months  i think theres a lot of pressure for inflation to decelerate later into the year such as fiscal tightening monetary tightening a strong dollar and commodity prices rolling over weak consumers he said