GPROX

LLJB

Thanks David for the alert on GPROX. I already have investments in GPIOX and GPEOX and I've been very happy with both for a relatively short time. I'm also a big fan of Grandeur Peak, partly because of the track record Robert Gardiner has but mostly because they are not only closing funds at very small levels but hard closing some of them, which I think gives them an even better chance to achieve great returns. I'm hoping for some thoughts from others about the good and bad of investing in GPROX, understanding that each of the positions in the fund is a very small investment with $110 million spread over 400 holdings, compared to separate investments in the subsets. For the most part it just seems like the separate investments give me the opportunity to manage my exposure to the individual pieces, but maybe letting them decide where to allocate capital is a better idea. Thanks.

Vert

I couldn't be more impressed with Grandeur Peak, they're doing what they said they'd do. As for your choices, personally I'd be happy with them making the choice as to how much emerging markets to have so I'd consider GPEOX a bit superfluous, but maybe you want plenty of em. If you have no better ideas for domestic small cap then I'd just dump it all into GPROX, but if you do then keep GPIOX. Given my own inclinations, I'm awaiting their Fallen Angels fund with baited breath, but that's just me.

LLJB

Thanks Vert! I'm interested in their Fallen Angels fund as well, but I'm not sure my confidence is as high in their skill with turnarounds as it is with more traditional growth stocks. I'm very interested in the Global Micro Cap fund since small foreign stocks are apparently where active managers add the most value (at least that's what I've read) and I think they are great small cap investors.

AndyJ

LLJB, I think I'm going to be happy with just GPROX from the GP stable. I'm trying to keep myself from slicing and dicing the investment universe very much, without using index funds, and a good, broad, actively managed global small cap is just what I need to do that.

I like the discipline as the GPers describe it, and think the large number of holdings is actually good in this case, to reduce risk in a pretty risky category. It's a big absolute number of stocks, but only 1-2% of the companies they consider & analyze, as they say.

LLJB

Thanks AndyJ! Like you, I'm not a fan of index funds and I think the GP crew is very good. Their willingness to close funds at such small sizes seems unlike any other mutual fund company I've ever read about or invested in, and the fact that some of these funds may not be open again for a very long time makes the decisions more difficult.

Thanks for the thoughts!