Lonsec Research has announced it has granted a ‘recommended’ rating to the WCM Quality Global Growth Fund (WCMQ).
The portfolio was managed by California-based specialist global equity firm, WCM Investment Management, and distributed in Australia by Contango Asset Management via an unlisted managed fund, an exchange traded managed fund (WCMQ) and a listed investment company, all of which received Lonsec’s ‘recommended’ rating.
Lonsec praised WCM for its successful long-term track record of outperforming the benchmark with a lower risk.
“The underlying strategy has been running since March 2008 and has a history in outperforming its ACWI benchmark and providing good downside protection,” Lonsec wrote in its report.
WCMQ had approximately $73 million in funds under management (FUM), an increase of 66 per cent in the 10 months since its initial listing, it said.
Contango’s chief executive, Marty Switzer, said that WCM’s focused on investment targets with a growing competitive advantage coupled with a good corporate culture.
“It is not enough to invest in a company that has a huge competitive advantage. Investors also need to look for companies that have a competitive advantage that is growing. That’s the differentiator,” he said.
“For example, many investors around the world like Amazon, Facebook and Google because they have large competitive advantages, but WCM says it can’t make the case that their competitive advantages are expanding at the same rate and prefers companies such as Netflix and Shopify.”
The WCMQ strategy returned on average 14 per cent per year net of fees to 31 March, 2019 since inception in march, 2008, outperforming its benchmark by an annualised 5.6 per cent per annum, the firm said.
