Managed since December 2014 by the same manager and with the MSCI North America Index as a benchmark, the fund invests in attractive US companies with sustainable dividend yields.
The fund:
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Is managed by a highly experienced and top performing value manager
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Adopts a disciplined value style with a distinctive quality overlay
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Offers lower risk than the broad market with low correlations to other US funds
October 2019 - Latest commentary
US markets had a strong month in October 2019, advancing more than 2%. Year-to-date, only two months have been negative. This put the year-to-date advance at 22%, for one of the best years on record.
Following on from their brutal record fall out year-to-date (in particular, August), treasury yields advanced 5% on top of last month’s 10%, moving from around 1.65% to 1.7%. This only made up two-fifths of the loss in August when yields fell by 50bps in one month. Year-to-date yields are down by 130bps.
Commodities continued their decline in October, losing half a percent totalling a year-to-date of 8%. Oil ending the month flat while gold resumed its upward path, advancing around 3%.
Following a very strong month in September, the value style underperformed the markets in October, but still advanced more than 1%. The year-to-date differential stood at a large 7.3%. Over a three and five-year cycle underperformance now stands at 33% and 44% respectively, a very large differential.
Health care, communication services, and technology acted as the best sectors in October. Energy, Utilities and Consumer staples acted as the worst. In corporate news GrubHub lost 43% of its value in one day.
The fund advanced by more than 1% in October. Stock selection acted positively, while sector allocation was a drag, shaped by the value style of investment returns. Consumer discretionary and financials acted as the best stock selection sectors, while information technology and consumer staples acted as the worst this month. Currency was a slight positive.
The discount in the earnings valuation slightly narrowed in October, moving from its record 52% to 48%. The discount is still near record historical levels, and highly attractive on a historical basis as value was on sale. Other value metrics were even higher. On a price-sales basis, the fund increased the discount, reaching almost 75% for another record. This was coupled with an average leverage for the fund that was only two-thirds of the markets. Active share hovered around 96%.
Previous months’ commentaries are contained within the fund factsheets.