On July 28, 2021, T. Rowe Price launched its fourth set of target-date funds, the Retirement Blend Series. The Retirement Blend strategy has been in operation since 2018 but has been available only through collective investment trusts. The new fund series complements the existing Retirement and Target Series (as well as the Retirement Hybrid series that’s available only through a collective investment trust). All four series invest, primarily, in other T. Rowe Price funds. Retirement and Target invest, primarily but not Continue reading →
Author Archives: David Snowball
July 1, 2021
Welcome to July, dear friends.
It’s summertime, an especially blessed and cursed interval for those of us who teach. On the one hand, we’re mostly freed from the day-to-day obligation to be in the classroom. Some of us write, some travel, some joke about “going topless at the beach” which translates to leaving their masks at home, some undertake “such other duties as may from time to time be assigned” by our colleges. On the other hand, we hear the clock ticking. All year long, as we try to face down a stack of 32 variably literate essays at 11 p.m. Sunday night, we think “if I can just make it to summer, I’ll recharge and it’ll be great!” About the first thing we notice when summer does arrive, is that summer is almost Continue reading →
Launch Alert: First Eagle Small Cap Opportunity Fund
On July 1, 2021, First Eagle Investment Management launched the First Eagle Small Cap Opportunity Fund (FESAX / FESCX / FESRX). The investable universe is primarily domestic small- and micro-cap value stocks. In general, they’ll own 180 – 300 of them.
The fund pursues an opportunistic small-cap value strategy, investing in companies that the portfolio management team believes to be attractively valued and have the potential to benefit from a catalyst—such as new management, a more favorable business cycle, product innovation and/or margin improvement—for a recovery in earnings growth. Small caps are very sensitive to asset flows and even small changes in underlying economic conditions, as a result, Continue reading →
Launch Alert: AMG Yacktman Global
On July 1, 2021, AMG Funds and Yacktman Asset Management launched the AMG Yacktman Global Fund (YFSNX).
Sort of.
In reality, Yacktman chose to dump the least attractive name in their stable – AMG Yacktman Focused Fund – Security Selection Only – in favor of the simple “Global” moniker. Yacktman manages two of the most outstanding funds in excellent: Yacktman (five stars, Silver-rated, Great Owl, multi-million dollar investment by the lead managers, top 2% returns over 15 years) and Yacktman Focused (five stars, Silver-rated, Great Owl, multi-million dollar investment by the lead managers, top 1% returns over 15 years). Yacktman Global uses the exact same security selection process Continue reading →
Launch Alert: Semper Brentview Dividend Growth Equity
On June 1, 2021, Semper Capital Management (semper as in “semper fidelis”) launched Semper Brentview Dividend Growth Equity Fund (SEMBX) in partnership with Brentview Investment Management. Both are minority-owned advisers, with Semper being veteran-owned as well. Brentview has an AUM of $175 million, so they’re a capable firm. They intend to provide both a high level of risk-adjusted current income and the prospect of capital growth.
The fund is currently available only to Continue reading →
Channel Short Duration Income Fund (CPSIX), July 2021
Objective and strategy
Channel Short Duration Income Fund pursues total return, comprised of both income and capital appreciation. In general, at least 65% of the portfolio will be investment-grade securities and up to 35% might be high-yield bonds. The bulk of the portfolio is short-term investment-grade debt, but the manager can opportunistically add other securities – longer-term debt, for instance – so long as the portfolio as a whole maintains a weighted average duration of 1 to 3.5 years.
The adviser expects the portfolio to be Continue reading →
Appleseed Fund (APPLX), July 2021
Objective and strategy
The Appleseed Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation. They do that through a portfolio that combines a global, all-cap portfolio of undervalued equities with other diversifying, and sometimes defensive, assets. Its investable universe centers on companies that have “sustainable competitive positions, solid financials, and capable, shareholder-friendly management teams.” The “other assets” in the fund might include bonds (though it currently does not), convertible securities, ETFs, commodities, REITs, and other real estate entities, currencies, and cryptocurrencies. Finally, they use Continue reading →
Funds in Registration
The Securities and Exchange Commission, by law, gets between 60 and 75 days to review proposed new funds before they can be offered for sale to the public. Each month we survey actively managed funds and ETFs in the pipeline. This month brings 36 new products in the pipeline, most of which will launch by Continue reading →
Briefly Noted
Updates
AMG River Road Long-Short is no more. At an as-yet-unspecified date following the inevitable shareholder approval, the $20 million / four-star AMG River Road Long-Short Fund will be wiped away, with its regulatory paperwork giving rise to AMG River Road International Value Equity Fund. Its portfolio (which has only 5% international equity exposure) will be liquidated and replaced with a new all-cap, absolute value portfolio. The new managers will be Continue reading →
June 1, 2021
Dear friends,
Welcome to summer.
On the morning of Sunday, May 23, Dean Wendy Hilton-Morrow sent the following short email from the floor of the convention center in which our commencement was held.
Subject: It’s showtime!
The stage is set.
The players are gathering, nervously, outside. Over the next eight hours we’re going to celebrate Continue reading →
Launch Alert: Alger 35 ETF
On May 4, 2021, Fred Alger Management launched the Alger 35 ETF (ATFV), their second active/nontransparent ETF (known colloquially as an ANT). The fund will invest in 35 stocks, typically US, typically mid- to large-cap (98% of the portfolio), and uniformly high growth.
Alger was founded in 1964 as a growth investor with all of its strategies using the same underlying discipline that focused on Continue reading →
Northern U.S. Quality ESG Fund (NUESX), June 2021
Objective and strategy
This Fund seeks to invest in high-quality companies that are industry leaders with regards to their environmental, social, and governance practices. Their investable universe is mid- to large-cap US stocks excluding those companies involved in ESG controversies or those that violate global norms like the United Nations Global Compact. They also remove Continue reading →
Funds in Registration
The Securities and Exchange Commission, by law, gets between 60 and 75 days to review proposed new funds before they can be offered for sale to the public. Each month we survey actively managed funds and ETFs in the pipeline. This month brings 28 new products in the pipeline, most of which will launch in August or September. The recent record, though, is that many authorized products are Continue reading →
Briefly Noted
Updates
The fund-to-ETF train appears to be leaving the station.
On May 7, 2021, the Adaptive Growth Opportunities Fund became the Adaptive Growth Opportunities ETF.
At some time in the third quarter of 2021, Water Island Long/Short Fund will become the AltShares Event-Driven ETF. That’s a more convoluted change since the fund will change Continue reading →
May 1, 2021
Dear friends,
The Tenth Year … and the Ninth Inning
Ten years ago this month, we launched the first issue of the Mutual Fund Observer, “a site in the tradition of FundAlarm.” As the antiquated text below notes, FundAlarm was one of the industry’s most independent, critical voices for 15 years, from 1996-2011. I had the privilege of writing for FundAlarm over its last five years. While the publisher and curmudgeon-in-chief Roy Weitz knew that his time was drawing to a close, he and over 100 readers were sure that the mission of FundAlarm – to be a thoughtful voice and unabashed champion of “the little guy” – was not.
And so the Mutual Fund Observer was born. Continue reading →
Hacking through the green wilds
It’s become increasingly clear that the global climate is becoming dangerous. Google Earth now has a time-lapse feature that allows us to watch changes in the planet – from the disappearance of glaciers to the drying of the Aral sea to the disappearance of Brazilian rainforests – over the past 37 years. The West and Southwest are locked in drought with record-low reservoir levels. Atmospheric CO2 is at its highest level in 650,000 years with the 20 hottest years in recorded history all occurring since 1998.
But you knew that already. Increasingly we (young and old, liberal and conservative, individual and corporation) accept that we’re in Continue reading →
A decade on: Amana Developing World (AMDWX)
What they do
The fund invests in emerging markets equities, following the principles of Islamic finance. As a practical matter, that means that AMDWX functions as an ESG-screened EM fund. The fund diversifies its investments across the countries of the developing world, industries, and companies, and generally follows Continue reading →
A decade on: Artisan Global Value (ARTGX)
What they do
The managers pursue long-term growth by investing in 30-50 undervalued global stocks. Generally, they avoid small-cap stocks but can invest up to 30% in emerging and less developed markets. The managers look for four characteristics in their investments:
- A high-quality business
- With a strong balance sheet
- Shareholder-focused management
- Selling for less than it’s worth.
The managers can Continue reading →
A decade on: LKCM Balanced (LKBAX)
What they do
The managers invest in a combination of US blue-chip stocks, investment-grade intermediate-term bonds, convertible securities, and cash. There’s a bit more mid-cap exposure than their peers offer but noticeably less direct international exposure. In general, at least 25% of the portfolio will be bonds. In practice, the fund is generally 70% equities. The portfolio turnover rate is modest, typically Continue reading →
A decade on: Osterweis Strategic Investment (OSTVX)
What they do
Osterweis starts with a strategic allocation that’s 50% equities and 50% bonds. In bull markets, they can increase the equity exposure to as high as 75%. In bear markets, they can drop it to as low as 25%. Their argument is that “Over long periods of time, we believe a static balanced allocation of 50% equities and 50% fixed income has the potential to provide investors with returns rivaling an equity-only portfolio but with less principal risk, lower volatility, and greater income.” Because they don’t Continue reading →