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Parnassus Endeavor Fund

I don't own it but happened to notice that Parnassus dropped its fees on both share classes of this fund by six basis points, effective January 1st.

Comments

  • edited January 2022
    Purchased some PARWX LY and have been happy with it. It was up 31 percent in 2021. Up 4.7 to peers, low Ulcer, good Martin and Sharpe…

    Wondering why it’s a MFO 3 Rating for 1 yr. I think I may need a re-education on ratings. Can anyone shed some light? Referring to 1 yr rating on this fund as all other periods are 5 rating. TIA.

    Edit/Add: Is it an overriding category issue?
  • Own it, like it. Love PRBLX but have large chunk of wife's retirement money tied up in that one. Endeavor has outperformed core over time, but with more volatility.
  • edited January 2022
    Jerome Dodson was the PARWX manager from inception (04/29/2005) until he retired on 12/31/2020.
    Billy Hwan became a comanager on 05/01/2018 and the sole manager at the start of 2021.
    Mr. Dodson took a contrarian approach which resulted in an elevated risk profile.
    Mr. Hwan takes a relative value approach and wants to bring the fund's beta (vs. S&P 500) down.
    Taking this into consideration, past PARWX performance may not be very indicative of future performance.
  • Are you saying that PARWX is rated an MFO 3 for 1 year performance based on a manager change or that the fund is now “riskier”?
  • edited January 2022
    My comments were not about the fund's MFO stats.
    I just wanted to mention the PARWX manager/strategy change.
    The fund should be less "risky" under Mr. Hwan.
  • It's probably not fair... but... I've been watching PRBLX closely and even appreciate the Parnassus sell sheet showing the volatility being less than SPY during market corrections.
    YTD:
    FXAIX -3.91
    PRBLX -4.34

    Not fair in that its just a snippet of time...and perhaps we are not in correction territory for anything other than Nasdaq but... still watching the fund on the sidelines.
  • "Not fair in that its just a snippet of time." I think we're all there !
    Enjoying the ride, Derf
  • I currently own PRBLX/PRILX in two R-IRA accounts. I have been looking for a LCV fund to "diversify" a little bit, because of the presumed rate hikes causing a slowdown in growth.

    One fund that keeps popping up on my screen is PARWX/PFPWX. I've been following it since Mr. Hwan took sole duties and it appears he is doing what he said he would, reduce volatility, add some diversification, add alpha, lower SD, etc.

    I am contemplating adding Endeavor to compliment Core, but there are concerns. There are about a dozen stocks in common, but only ONE in the top 10 positions. Most metrics favor PRBLX/PRILX and returns are not dramatically lower in the recent past (1,3,5 years).

    Any thoughts on the rational to hold both of these funds? Suggestions, critiques, opinions welcome!

    Matt
  • I don't see the rationale for holding both myself. They each appear to be large blend funds with similar sector weightings even if the exact same stock does not appear in each. Are there differences in the funds investment policies or goals? Admittedly I have not looked closely.
  • edited January 2022
    Mark, I appreciate your input!

    Here's what I know and read:

    Endeavor is an All-cap Value fund (280.5B avg. weighted mkt cap; active share 88.63%) with a Capital Appreciation objective; Core Equity is a Large Cap Blend fund (510.4B avg. weighted mkt cap; active share 76.29%) with a Capital Appreciation and Current Income objective and the S&P 500 as its boogie.

    Per the Parnassus website, although they are invested in the same sectors (except for no Materials in Endeavor) the weightings are somewhat different. Several sector weightings are double the other fund. Both funds are concentrated, 38 for CORE EQUITY and 43 for Endeavor, that include contrarian stocks (per their website).

    Also, I believe both Endeavor and Core Equity focus on ESG. Not sure if one is more focused than the other, but either way ESG has NO bearing on my decision to invest or not!!!

    One last thought, they do not seem to act in tandem very often, per my observations, not statistically verified.

    I don't know if there is enough differences between the two funds, hence my question and hesitation!

    Any further comments, suggestions, thoughts very welcome!

    Matt
  • edited January 2022
    All Parnassus funds are ESG, and all are fossil-fuel free.

    That's one difference between the PRBLX of old and the PRBLX of today. The old version barbelled tech and industrials against staples and utilities much of the time, but the new version hasn't owned mainstream utes in a while. They had owned MDU and NWE for some years, but they don't own them anymore, apparently at least partly for fossil fuel reasons, as both are heavy into coal generation.

    It's been a small-ish change, but it could conceivably push PRBLX into slightly growthier territory than it inhabited in the past.
  • AndyJ thanks.

    Any thoughts on Endeavor? And pairing it with Core Equity especially if it moves towards growthier territory?
  • mcmarasco said:

    Any thoughts on Endeavor? And pairing it with Core Equity especially if it moves towards growthier territory?

    Not a lot of deep analysis here, but PARWX isn't a typical value fund in a sector sense, and in that way, it's still sorta similar to what it was under Jerome Dodson, just maybe not as volatile. I like it too, but I don't think a pairing with PRBLX would exactly fit into a classic value-growth cover-the-waterfront style. That doesn't bother me, not being a big fan of trying to cover the investing universe, but it might not be what some people would expect.
  • Circling back to this topic. Considering adding to position in PARWX. Ran some MFO quick search’s. Really impressed with COWZ ratings and performance. Looking closer at PARWX, I was wondering why the MFO rating dropped to 2 for 1 year. Asked the question earlier in thread. I’m guessing since MFO rating is tied to Martin…that’s why. Martin and Ulcer for 1 year for PARWX are lower than other GO same category funds.
  • Just dumped my primecap core and put into on PARWX.
  • wxman123 said:

    Just dumped my primecap core and put into on PARWX.

    I was debating if I should add to VHCOX. Any insight you may be able to share about the above trade would be appreciated.

    P.S.: feel free to send a message if that is more convenient - I am not looking to debate!

  • BaluBalu said:

    wxman123 said:

    Just dumped my primecap core and put into on PARWX.

    I was debating if I should add to VHCOX. Any insight you may be able to share about the above trade would be appreciated.

    P.S.: feel free to send a message if that is more convenient - I am not looking to debate!

    I don't know much about VHCOX but is appears better than core, but looking at PV back to 2006 PARWX is considerably better than both Vanguard/Primecap offerings, plus I'm a big fan of Parnassus so tightened up my portfolio a bit.
  • Thanks@wxman123. VHCOX is another prime cap managed fund at Vanguard.
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