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.”
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