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Has anyone invested in any of the "Stars in the Shadows"?
Bought ING Corporate Leaders after it came to my attention in July 2011. There's a lot to like about it, notig that it's very concentrated and contains a lot of energy.
I pulled out of my small and mid cap US funds in the summer of '11 and put the money into one fund, ARIVX. Very happy with the fund. Definitely a "sleep good at night" fund.
I've decided my buy and hold funds will be funds managed by managers with capital preservation at the forefront. ARIVX and YAFFX on the large cap side fit that bill for me.
Sure. I have bought EXEYX, FMIRX, and recently added TSELX. I also hold FMSLX, although I cannot recall if it was a Stars in the Shadows or a Most Intriguing New Fund. I am generally happy with them, although I sold part of my holdings in FMIRX for asset allocation reasons.
PRELX - Not a "star"- Just a new fund I learned about at MFO. Opened @ $10 last year. Now around $9. Doesn't tell whole story as kicks out pretty good dividend. It's basically an unhedged emerging markets bond fund. Gives a purer play against $$ weakness - if that's what ya want. Of course adds more volatility to an already volatile area. Happy with it? Might be 5 years from now. 1 year ain't long enough to form an opinion.
In an old tradition, I'll write a bit about my 2011 portfolio next month. I currently own a number of funds that I've written about (in my non-retirement portfolio, Leuthold Global, RiverPark Short-Term High Yield, Matthews Asian Growth & Income), but only MACSX was identified as a "star." I'm satisfied all around.
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue: Ken, I've been watching FEO myself & am close to opening a small position.
A couple of questions: Do you have any concerns about the thin trading?
And have you found a breakdown of currency exposure? The only thing on currencies I could find in their literature is a US dollar exposure figure of ~47% on the fact sheet, and a list of swaps and futures in the portfolio holdings, but not a clear delineation like Aberdeen provides for FAX and FCO. (I own FAX and follow FCO.)
Reply to @AndyJ: Yes thin trading can be a bit of a concern but I'm ok with it as I'm not doing frequest/periodic purchases. The discount can help offset some of that. Lately it's been at a 10% discount but recently with the good up performance of EM, the discount has been cut to 8%.
No I haven't seen a break down of the currency exposure with the exception of what you have seen in the 47% in USD exposure. I can get a general sense of the rest of the currency exposure by looking at the holdings information. The Stock country allocation other than ADRs will give you a sense of the currency exposure for stocks. And in the Bond section of the holdings report it shows in parentheses the currency the bonds are denominated in (USD, ARS, BRL, etc).
So I don't have an exact breakdown but I can see the general currency exposure that way from the country in which the stock is located and the information about currency denomination next to each bond listed.
I know the fund is a bit pricey but screw it - the nice discount is helpful and they've done a good job balancing the fund across stocks & bonds the past 5 years. Also in looking at their holdings report --- I like the distribution in their EM country allocation.
Here's a Fall 2011 Brochure on Emerging Markets with Aberdeen Investments - an interesting read:
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue: Thanks; enjoyed the EM bulletin. I have a call in to First Trust asking if they keep a currency breakdown anywhere in their documents like Aberdeen's own CEFs do - I see the notation in the report but I'm too lazy to do the math.
Followup: The rep told me that no, First Trust doesn't aggregate net currency exposure as Aberdeen does with its own funds, and you can't really compute it from the holdings because of the various currency contracts in the portfolio.
So it's hard to tell from their reporting what local currencies they're over- or under-weighting at any given time.
Comments
I've decided my buy and hold funds will be funds managed by managers with capital preservation at the forefront. ARIVX and YAFFX on the large cap side fit that bill for me.
As ever, David
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2011/04/first-trustaberdeen-emerging-opportunity-fund-feo/
A couple of questions: Do you have any concerns about the thin trading?
And have you found a breakdown of currency exposure? The only thing on currencies I could find in their literature is a US dollar exposure figure of ~47% on the fact sheet, and a list of swaps and futures in the portfolio holdings, but not a clear delineation like Aberdeen provides for FAX and FCO. (I own FAX and follow FCO.)
Yes thin trading can be a bit of a concern but I'm ok with it as I'm not doing frequest/periodic purchases. The discount can help offset some of that. Lately it's been at a 10% discount but recently with the good up performance of EM, the discount has been cut to 8%.
No I haven't seen a break down of the currency exposure with the exception of what you have seen in the 47% in USD exposure. I can get a general sense of the rest of the currency exposure by looking at the holdings information. The Stock country allocation other than ADRs will give you a sense of the currency exposure for stocks. And in the Bond section of the holdings report it shows in parentheses the currency the bonds are denominated in (USD, ARS, BRL, etc).
So I don't have an exact breakdown but I can see the general currency exposure that way from the country in which the stock is located and the information about currency denomination next to each bond listed.
I know the fund is a bit pricey but screw it - the nice discount is helpful and they've done a good job balancing the fund across stocks & bonds the past 5 years. Also in looking at their holdings report --- I like the distribution in their EM country allocation.
Here's a Fall 2011 Brochure on Emerging Markets with Aberdeen Investments - an interesting read:
http://www.aberdeen-asset.us/doc.nsf/Lit/BrochureUSClosedFAXFall2011BulletinMagazine20111202
Thanks; enjoyed the EM bulletin. I have a call in to First Trust asking if they keep a currency breakdown anywhere in their documents like Aberdeen's own CEFs do - I see the notation in the report but I'm too lazy to do the math.
So it's hard to tell from their reporting what local currencies they're over- or under-weighting at any given time.