This post was spurred by Mr. Snowball's review of ARTWX in the most current commentary.
I'm a big fan of the Artisan funds, and have done very well to this point with ARTGX. I learned that if interested in an Artisan fund, you need to move quickly or you could get closed out...which indeed happened to me with ARTKX.
ARTWX would seem to fit extremely well in the small/mid growth space with the flexibility to go local or global....but this specific niche is nicely filled in my current portfolio with GPGOX.
These appear to be very closely related...any thoughts which I may have overlooked which could differentiate these two?
My regret is that this same conflict of which to choose from doesn't exist in the value space.
Thanks,
Press
Comments
I am not a wealthy person, but I learned that if anyone has in excess of $100,000 combined in Artisan Funds, they can access any Artisan closed fund. And, it makes no difference if one holds their Artisan fund(s) directly with Artisan or with the likes of Schwab.
Mona
I don't think there's a right or wrong one-size-fits-all best fund for all investors - it also depends on what else one might have in their portfolio.
Just as an example - I personally may prefer GPGOX for sole exposure to international smallcap markets. However, if I were already a sizable investor in the International Smallcap Index such as as VSS or DLS - then I might favor ARTWX as the complementary fund.
1) Number of holdings. ARTWX was more concentrated. I was swayed by the GP guy's argument that they were representing a very small part of a big pond so that they would hold 150-300 stocks and still have it be ~ 1% of their universe. Ordinarily I like concentrated. I was convinced differently here.
2) Both managers have done well with volatility considering their niche, but Artisan was just a little better by the numbers comparing WAIGX and ARTJX. Still I thought there was a little more growth potential with GP because:
3) Micro-caps. GP's focus is on even smaller, less liquid parts of the market. The avg. market cap is half what ARTWX is. I liked that.
and
4) Frontier Markets. GP has a little more here it seemed.
5) Willingness to close. Artisan is willing to close funds early. GP seems to close them a little earlier.
6) Private boutique. I tend to avoid publicly held investment companies. Artisan and Price would be the exceptions, but I felt a little better with the GP guys. Though I am looking at Artisan's stock. I also liked that the GP guys openly talk about their community/charity involvement, but I'm a bleeding heart.
7) Focus. Not that I have any reason to distrust Mr. Yockey, but he's now managing 4 funds with some overlap between. You could say the same of the GP guys, but it seemed like only one fund subdivided to me. And that one fund is all that team does.
I don't really think there will be much between the two over time. Time will tell if I bet on the right story.
Thank you,
Matt
You may open a new account in a closed Fund only if that account meets the Fund’s other criteria (for example, minimum initial investment) and:
-you are a shareholder with combined balances of $100,000 in any of the Artisan Funds (in your own name or as beneficial owner of shares held in someone else’s name)(only available for investments in Artisan International Small Cap Fund, Artisan Mid Cap Fund, Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund, Artisan Small Cap Fund, and Artisan Small Cap Value Fund)
I started with GPGOX but then moved to GPROX as I personally wanted the bit larger blanket coverage. And it turns out that GPROX also has a bit smaller market cap and a bit more EM/Frontier Market exposure.
On the other hand --- Yockey and his team have done very well with their Artisan Smallcap International fund (ARTJX) the past 10 years.
ARTJX: 3-years: 14.73% | 5-years: 24.88% | 10-years: 12.57%
Here's the January Monthly Fund Mgr commentary for ARTWX:
https://www.artisanfunds.com/data/pdfs/ARTWX_MCommentary_0114_vR.pdf
Hi Matt:
This will explain it from an Artisan point of view.
https://www.artisanfunds.com/invest/closed_fund.cfm
My guess is your Fidelity representative will neither know Artisan's policy or know how to fulfill your request to buy into one of Artisan's closed funds.
My suggestion is you call Artisan and let them tell you what to say to Fidelity. A year or two ago, a friend of mine who invests through Schwab, wanted to invest in ARTKX and had in excess of $100,000 combined in ARTMX and ARTQX. When he called Schwab, they talked to him like he had "4 eyes". He requested that Schwab call their contact at Artisan to confirm and they did.
What made it even more interesting, is that he continues to buy more into ARTKX, but the trades won't go through online, because ARTKX is a closed fund. Instead, he must go through a trader/broker on the telephone and because of the "system limitation", Schwab does not charge him to place the trade.
Based on Press's post and the Artisan document, I am wondering if Artisan made some adjustments to their policy, such as not allowing purchase of ARTKX, even with combined balances of $100,000 in any of the Artisan Funds
I look forward to hearing your experience with Artisan and Fidelity.
Mona