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Wintergreen Fund's recent performance has been particularly poor. Was it the European equities (Swatch?) that caused the problem?
Wintergreen has 60% of its equities outside the U.S. Ex-U.S. equities are performing quite poorly. Here's a look at Wintergreen compared to the ex-U.S. equities, and the World Stock category.
It's beating 90% of its category over the past month. Not doing well over 3 months. YTD so-so but not horrible.......
I like Winters and a number of the fund's holdings, but I really don't get his strong like of Swatch. Canadian Nat Resources (which I also think is undervalued) is another WGRNX top holding that was really down significantly over the last month due to the move lower in oil. Lastly, he's been continually long the Macau/Asian gaming names (the two Gentings, Wynn Macau, SJM, etc), which have not done well this year as traffic has come in under expectations.
Still, Swatch: while Winters said on CNBC that the iWatch wasn't a concern, how is it not? And the fact that so many people check the time by looking at their phone? I mean, if you look at their website, some of their watches are $150-200. At that point, why would I not buy a smartwatch (whether the more expensive iWatch or one of the cheaper Android options) that has a number of different functions?
Winters has continually emphasized the longer/long term in interviews. People know what they think about his investment themes, which have been gone over in interviews and whether they agree or not. The one thing that I disagree with Winters on is that the fund has a higher expense ratio and minimum because of the tools that he has available. The fund has I think rarely ever (once or twice that I'm aware of) been short something, only rarely has engaged in activism and, by all appearances, has always seemed a normal long-only fund aside from the thematic nature of the fund. The fund does use currency hedging, which can be good or bad (" The Fund continued to utilize forward currency contracts, which had an overall negative impact on performance during the period." - from last shareholder report.)
Overall, I like a number of holdings but don't own the fund and don't agree with the way that the fund really kind of presents itself as something its not (or something that it's minimally, I suppose.) That said, Winters is long-term oriented and the themes are visible in the fund's holdings and have been discussed in interviews. If you don't agree with them, Winters probably isn't changing anytime soon.
Also, maybe it's just me, but I do think Wintergreen has grown noticeably more concentrated over the last year or two.
On a sidenote, the downdraft in the Macau gaming stocks is mostly attributed to the no smoking law that went into effect earlier this month. No smoking in the casinos except in special areas.
Chinese love to gamble but they love to smoke even more.
I gave up on Mr Winters after the Financial Crisis. He states the amount he charges is for the benefit of having a Hedge fund in the form of a Mutual fund. As he states '2 without the 20'. During the downturn of 2007-2008 this so call hedge fund provided little protection, for the price it charges. I moved on to FMIJX and have never regretted the move.
Wintergreen Fund's recent performance has been particularly poor. Was it the European equities (Swatch?) that caused the problem?
Like you said, "recent" performance... Why is everyone so caught up on short-term performance of funds? I'm not a fan of Wintergreen because I do think Mr. Winters is just sucking money from retail investors; however, I do want to stress that active management does mean that there will be periods of underperformance!
Why is everyone so caught up on short-term performance of funds?
Additionally, the desire to look for funds that held up better in this recent move down is futile from the standpoint of it's such a small window of time as mutual funds go and no mutual fund is going to be able to take advantage of such a small window. If they held up better than other funds during this time period, they were already positioned in a cautious manner.
I invested in Wintergreen when it first opened. Its a long-term investment that shouldn't be judged over a short period. A fund that holds cigarette companies and Coke isn't going to lead the pack during a long steady climb. But it will earn good returns in both up and down markets, and in the long run that will make all the difference.
If you compare Wintergreen Fund to the Mutual Series Funds, its doing alright.
I remember when viewers sent lots of letters to Louis Rukeyser complaining about Michael Price's purchase of SunBeam. Price defended his pick on the Friday show. He was wrong. SunBeam went broke. But if you had sold your holdings in the Mutual Series Funds because of that one stock pick, you'd have lost out on an excellent fund investment.
Michael Price trained David Wintergreen, so I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. And I'm still holding my Mutual Series Funds that I bought decades ago.
Comments
Ex-U.S. equities are performing quite poorly.
Here's a look at Wintergreen compared to the ex-U.S. equities, and the World Stock category.
It's beating 90% of its category over the past month. Not doing well over 3 months. YTD so-so but not horrible.......
But helps Mr. Winters personally.
Short-term anyway.
Do not see how it will last in current form.
Still, Swatch: while Winters said on CNBC that the iWatch wasn't a concern, how is it not? And the fact that so many people check the time by looking at their phone? I mean, if you look at their website, some of their watches are $150-200. At that point, why would I not buy a smartwatch (whether the more expensive iWatch or one of the cheaper Android options) that has a number of different functions?
Winters has continually emphasized the longer/long term in interviews. People know what they think about his investment themes, which have been gone over in interviews and whether they agree or not. The one thing that I disagree with Winters on is that the fund has a higher expense ratio and minimum because of the tools that he has available. The fund has I think rarely ever (once or twice that I'm aware of) been short something, only rarely has engaged in activism and, by all appearances, has always seemed a normal long-only fund aside from the thematic nature of the fund. The fund does use currency hedging, which can be good or bad (" The Fund continued to utilize forward currency contracts, which had an overall negative impact on performance during the period." - from last shareholder report.)
Overall, I like a number of holdings but don't own the fund and don't agree with the way that the fund really kind of presents itself as something its not (or something that it's minimally, I suppose.) That said, Winters is long-term oriented and the themes are visible in the fund's holdings and have been discussed in interviews. If you don't agree with them, Winters probably isn't changing anytime soon.
Also, maybe it's just me, but I do think Wintergreen has grown noticeably more concentrated over the last year or two.
Chinese love to gamble but they love to smoke even more.
If you compare Wintergreen Fund to the Mutual Series Funds, its doing alright.
I remember when viewers sent lots of letters to Louis Rukeyser complaining about Michael Price's purchase of SunBeam. Price defended his pick on the Friday show. He was wrong. SunBeam went broke. But if you had sold your holdings in the Mutual Series Funds because of that one stock pick, you'd have lost out on an excellent fund investment.
Michael Price trained David Wintergreen, so I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. And I'm still holding my Mutual Series Funds that I bought decades ago.