Value found in cyclical stocks
Value can be still found in more cyclical stocks says Forager Funds Management as its International Shares Fund, net of fees, returned 27.42 per cent over one year to June 2017.
As the confusion around Brexit did affect some of the shares in the fund’s portfolio, the fund managed to find value in cyclical stocks and added two new positions to its portfolio including one in the US and one in Europe.
Forager also said that its Australian Shares Fund, which closed in December and since the units traded under the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) ticker FOR, it saw a stellar year, returning 25.16 per cent, net of fees, over the year, against the ASX All Ordinaries Index 13.12 per cent.
According to the company, the performance was driven mostly by some long-held stocks that finally began to deliver sound results.
Since inception, the Forager’s Shares Fund returned 14.87 per cent, net of fees, against the ASX All Ordinaries Index (7.34 per cent).
Forager’s chief investment officer, Steven Johnson, also said that “staying small” gave the firm a competitive advantage and that it often was an attribute that was under-rated when people look for a fund manager to invest with.
“Our original Australian Shares Fund produced another year of 20 per cent plus returns and managed to do so in a period that was generally unfavourable for investors at the smaller end of the market,” he said.
“The newer International Shares Fund had what was hopefully a defining year, with a number of core investments paying off in a big way and the fund generating a return of more than 30 per cent excluding currency impacts.”
Recommended for you
Rising bearishness among investors has led to a retreat into defensive assets, according to the latest quarterly manager and intelligence trends report from Bfinance.
Cbus Super, the superannuation fund for blue-collar workers, has announced it paid out almost $300m in insurance claims over the last financial year, a rise of $40m from the year before.
The $700 million not-for-profit fund Lutheran Super has announced it is to merge into Mercer Super, with the transfer set to take place in the fourth quarter this year.
Superannuation assets fell 0.5% in value over the 12 months to the end of June, according to the latest quarterly figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).