The managers seek long-term capital appreciation by investing in a concentrated portfolio of 30-40 mid and large capitalization companies over $2.0B that use sustainable business strategies (SBA) to drive future earnings growth.
They focus on finding companies whose Continue reading →
Before funds can be offered to the public, they’ve got to be submitted to the SEC which has 70 days to review the application. That means that funds hopeful of launching by December 30th needed to be filed by October 15th. We’re looking for funds that might be accessible to the average investor or advisor; we include active ETFs but not passive ones. That last restriction allows me to pretend that neither ProShares Pet Care ETF nor the US Vegan Climate ETF is about to be inflicted on us. Continue reading →
Before funds can be offered to the public, they’ve got to be submitted to the SEC which has 70 days to review the application. That means that funds hopeful of launching by December 30th need to be filed by October 15th. This month’s 15 new funds, including offerings from both DoubleLine and T. Rowe Price, represent the first part of that year-end wave. Continue reading →
The managers seek long-term growth of capital favorable to its benchmarks with lower risk – specifically companies with 12-15% earnings growth potential for at least three years. They typically hold 40-60 SMid stocks whose valuations are attractive relative to their growth prospects. SMid caps have market capitalizations between $250 million and $12 billion, and are generally within the range of those in the Russell 2500 Growth Index.
Continue reading →
A surprising number of interesting funds have quietly entered the SEC’s new-fund pipeline. While we don’t cover passive ETFs or funds not available to the general public, even there there were interesting developments. DFA Emerging Markets Targeted Value Portfolio will target small and mid-cap EM value stocks, which is consistent with DFA’s research bent and validates the increasing interest in EM value. Impact Shares YWCA Women’s Empowerment ETF will target firms whose values align with the YWCA’s long-time public goals. Of more direct interest, Rajiv Jain of GQG Partners is launching a fund focusing on US equities, a long-time AllianzGI manager is adding an EM value fund to the mix, The Great Gabelli is seizing the helm of his 15th fund and a team from France is offering a direct challenge to the ideology of market-cap-weighted indexes. Continue reading →
“Perhaps time’s definition of coal is the diamond.”
Kahlil Gibran
The Zeo Short Duration Income Fund (ZEOIX), previously known as the Zeo Strategic Income Fund, is a non-diversified, actively managed, total return, fixed-income fund that seeks …
Clearly, ZEOIX’s focus is Continue reading →
LS Opportunity Fund pursues three goals: preserving capital, delivering above-market returns and managing volatility. “The secret,” says manager John Gillespie, “is to avoid large losses.” They invest, both long and short, in individual stocks; they do not short “the market,” they don’t use esoteric options and they don’t typically use ETFs. They normally will have 20-40 short positions and 50-70 long ones. The long portfolio is both all-cap and value-oriented, both of which are fairly rare. The short portfolio targets Continue reading →
The fund seeks to provide current income with a secondary objective of capital preservation in a rising interest rate and inflationary environment.
The manager’s goal is to achieve a 2% return above inflation, generate income, and protect principal. By managing credit and interest rate risk, limiting duration, and minimizing drawdown to less than 2%, it’s designed to fend against frontal attacks that may ravage the bond market which reduce investor returns and suffocate Continue reading →
VanEck has registered a launch a video-gaming and e-sports ETF, which strikes me as silly in the extreme but at least doesn’t include cryptocurrencies. “Silly in the extreme” means we’re not saying anything more about it. Happily, a bunch of really solid offerings – a new Litman Gregory, a bond fund run by ex-PIMCO guys, an emerging markets offering from LSV and the ETF version of several four-star funds – were filed at the same time. All of these funds and active ETFs are likely available by the end of September. Continue reading →
The fund seeks “maximum total return” through a combination of capital appreciation and income. The fund invests in undervalued securities, mostly mid- to large-cap dividend paying stocks. The manager has the option of investing in REITs, master limited partnerships, royalty trusts, preferred shares, convertibles, bonds and cash. The manager invests in companies “that he understands well.” The manager also generates income by selling covered calls on some of his stocks. As of February 28, 2018, the fund held 21 different investments, which Continue reading →
The fund equally weights all of the stocks in the S&P 500 index and rebalances its portfolio quarterly.
The Index Group, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado. While they are legally permitted to Continue reading →
Lately, new fund and active ETF launches have been rare – only seven new retail funds launched in the first five months of 2018 – and occasionally silly. Last month saw a registration filing for an active “pet parents” fund; this month saw a filing for a passive “pet care” ETF. You need neither (and should avoid both), so we’ll say no more about them. While this is a slow month for new fund registrations, at least it’s not a silly one. In the main, these funds will be available for purchase by August 1.
Adler Value Fund, will seek Continue reading →
The Opportunity Fund seeks capital appreciation. They apply a value-oriented discipline to micro-, small- and mid-cap stocks in the US and other developed markets. In general, the managers look for companies with long, consistent, predictable track records of free cash flow yield generation and healthy organic growth. They identify undervalued securities by starting with balance sheet strength but they also consider qualitative factors (e.g., quality of the management) and the presence of a Continue reading →
Proposed new funds and ETFs have to be submitted for review by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has 75 days to raise any concerns. During those 75 days, the so-called “quiet period,” advisors are forbidden from discussing the fund in registration. Advisors hoping for a fund launch by New Years have their funds in registration by October; those seeking a mid-year launch get the papers filed in April. A lot of the filings were rushed and incomplete. That said, the BBH and Metropolitan West income funds are apt to be entirely reasonable additions; for income-seeking investors, they bear Continue reading →
The fund seeks long term capital growth through investing in what they deem to be 30 highly innovative, reasonably valued, companies from around the globe. They take an eclectic approach to identifying global innovators. They read widely (for example Fast Company and MIT’s Technology Review, as well as reports from the Boston Consulting Group and Thomson Reuters) and maintain ongoing conversations with folks in a variety of industries. That leads them to identify a manageable set of themes (from artificial intelligence to clean energy) which seem to be driving global innovation. They then identify companies substantially exposed to those themes (about 1000), then weed out the financially challenged (taking the list down to 500). Having identified a potential addition to the portfolio, they also Continue reading →
The SEC requires advisers to give them 75 days to review and comment upon any proposed new fund offering. During those 75 days, the advisers aren’t permitted to say anything about the funds except “please refer to our public filing with the SEC.” This month there are 17 no-load retail funds and actively managed ETFs in the pipeline. I’m most intrigued by two funds that aren’t actually new: Seven Canyons Strategic Income and Seven Canyons World Innovators are the rechristened versions of two Wasatch funds, both managed by Wasatch founder Samuel Stewart. Mr. Stewart, now 75, appears to be distancing himself from the firm, though we don’t know the circumstances behind it. The Wasatch website, including Mr. Stewart’s most recent shareholder letter, offers no hints concerning the change. Wasatch has seen steady outflows every quarter since Q2 2014, with a net outflow of around $5.5 billion. One could imagine the departure of these funds, and the merger of Wasatch Long/Short into Wasatch Global Value (see this month’s “Briefly Noted” for details), as attempts to Continue reading →
The managers seek to maximize long-term return on capital. They can invest in firms of any size, but mostly invest in mid- to large-cap US firms and invest through both common stocks and convertibles. They pursue a patient value approach to investing which favors companies which meet at least one of these three criteria Continue reading →
The SEC requires advisers to give them 75 days to review and comment upon any proposed new fund offering. During those 75 days, the advisers aren’t permitted to say anything about the funds except “please refer to our public filing with the SEC.” At peak times of the year, there might be a couple dozen no-load retail funds and active ETFs in registration. This month the offerings are few but intriguing: a health sector fund from Baron, Matisse Capital’s second fund targeting discounted CEFs, the re-emergence of a successful Scout manager at Oberweis and an intriguing (but unexplained) active ETF that’s Continue reading →
“Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying
will eventually make you look like an overnight success.”
Biz Stone
The AlphaCentric Income Opportunities Fund seeks to provide current income. Presently, it invests in often overlooked (some call “pejorative”) segments of non‐agency (private label) residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), specifically in seasoned (2007 or earlier) subprime mortgages with floating rate coupons.
The irony is that 10 years after the housing collapse these bonds, once highly discounted if not feared worthless, represent one of the more sought after asset classes, as described nicely in Claire Boston’s Bloomberg Continue reading →
The SEC requires advisers to give them 75 days to review and comment upon any proposed new fund offering. During those 75 days, the advisers aren’t permitted to say anything about the funds except “please refer to our public filing with the SEC.” At peak times of the year, there might be a couple dozen no-load retail funds and active ETFs in registration. Midwinter, not so much. Fidelity’s ESG bond index might be a useful option for investors looking to express their concerns about shaping a more humane world. Beyond that, mostly nice people who don’t yet have a public track record or striking competitive advantage. They might do very well, but we’ll have to watch for a bit. Continue reading →
