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That Was A Remarkable Day In The History Of Calamos
I sold my one Calamos Fund soon after Gary Black joined. To me he personifies everything wrong with the mutual fund industry. Analogy is a bad hollywood actor who for some reason we keep seeing in movies. Finally, Gary Black will be gone and IMO that's good for Calamos fund owners.
At some point of time something does not seem right with a fund company. He (Black) did what we needed him to do... i have great distribution to grow the business... ... Who cares about the investors in our funds? ...sorry, scratch that, just thinking aloud
Best to exit. I didn't think I would ever have said it, but now I'm watching Artisan closely. There are too many pressures in the real world to maintain ones honesty and integrity. Royce fell by the wayside some years back. I really hope Artisan does not.
Maybe I'm paranoid and have a death wish. I was not happy with them starting their new Emerging Markets fund when they already have one that sucks. I do not think highly of Thornburg or their alumni. They are bull market wonders.
Normally new Artisan fund meant I automatically bought it. I'm not buying their latest fund.
Who cares about the investors in our funds? ...sorry, scratch that, just thinking aloud
No, don't scratch that question; no apologies necessary. It is precisely at these turning points when we need to start to scrutinize just what is going down, because we now have a 10 yr. list, that continues to grow, of formerly up-and-coming MF companies, smallish, tightly-focused, with very good results, that have stalled, become mundane, and in some cases have driven themselves into the ditch. And what do most of them have in common? Either they (1) consented to be acquired by a larger player, or (2) went public with an IPO. And then sooner (1-3 yrs) or later (3-5 yrs), the decline---at first barely perceptible--- becomes obvious, after which things just never take a turn for the better. So I think a better question to ask, when these transitional steps are taken, after which these outfits are no longer and will never be what they once were again, is:
From this point forward, when you say and think that everything you do will be in the best interest of your shareholders, to whom are you referring--- the shareholders in your company, or the shareholders invested in your mutual funds?
I think I'm finally at the point to keep emotion out of investing. I'm not saying I will never buy ARTYX. However at this time, I'm looking to fish @ Grandeur Peak.
Bought their Market Neutral Fund a decade ago. Sold it shortly after Mr. Black arrived. Not a bad fund - but grossly overrated back than by M* and others. (I've come to view this whole category as pretty much an excuse to charge excessive fees.)
Seems to me Calamos' past (well deserved) reputation was in the convertible bond area, where I believe they once excelled. But at the persistently low interest rates we've been witnessing, managing bonds of just about any flavor has to feel a bit like being the neighborhood blacksmith.
Hi, Vintage. Your comments on companies getting too big, getting bought out by bigger fund companies, and not being able to do what made them good in the first place...these are quite good. The best example that I see is MFLDX, which is still run by a gifted manager. The fund did exceedingly well for a number of years, added more assets, still did well, then was bought by Mainstay. Once that happened, it seems the trolley went off the tracks. Assets more than tripled in one year, and the management team let their risk parameters shift. Performance tanked, then assets fled (typical), the fund now has fewer dollars than it did before the takeover, and performance is still bad.
I do take exception to your comments about Thornburg. I have made a number of visits at their headquarters and believe they are one of the very few truly independent fund groups, both in terms of how they treat their fund shareholders, and their investment philosophy. Being isolated from the noisy financial centers of the world, they really do take a long-term view of things. Their basic fixed-income offerings are run with a barbell style, very unusual, but successful. Their Income Builder TIBIX has one of the very best long-term records, and it has been totally consistent in its investment approach since the beginning. In fact, just about all of their funds have strikingly good long-term records. If they launch a new fund and it does not pan out, they waste no time in closing it, unlike a lot of shops that work to take in more and more assets in the hopes that asset size alone will somehow make things right. It will be interesting to see what happens to THDIX now that star manager Kaufman was lured away by more money at Artisan. Assets are less than half of what they were prior to his leaving.
We use several of their funds in our client models, mostly because we know what we are getting.
I do not profess to have any great insight into Thornburg. I'm just saying I haven't seen them negotiate bear markets. If you have some examples please share.
By the way how is Thornburg manager record of fund owneship?
Now regarding TIBIX. It seems to stack up well against current category but it didn't in 2008 meltdown. IMHO it is much more risky fund than people think. Also if I'm not mistaken, when going got tough majority of its managers defected to PIMCO to start their "builder" fund. That bothers me as well.
I will shut up if Kaufman negotiates a bear market at Artisan. I'm just saying 2009 through off late has not been a hard time to invest for anyone.
Comments
At some point of time something does not seem right with a fund company.
He (Black) did what we needed him to do...
i have great distribution to grow the business...
...
Who cares about the investors in our funds? ...sorry, scratch that, just thinking aloud
Best to exit. I didn't think I would ever have said it, but now I'm watching Artisan closely. There are too many pressures in the real world to maintain ones honesty and integrity. Royce fell by the wayside some years back. I really hope Artisan does not.
Normally new Artisan fund meant I automatically bought it. I'm not buying their latest fund.
So I think a better question to ask, when these transitional steps are taken, after which these outfits are no longer and will never be what they once were again, is:
Seems to me Calamos' past (well deserved) reputation was in the convertible bond area, where I believe they once excelled. But at the persistently low interest rates we've been witnessing, managing bonds of just about any flavor has to feel a bit like being the neighborhood blacksmith.
I do take exception to your comments about Thornburg. I have made a number of visits at their headquarters and believe they are one of the very few truly independent fund groups, both in terms of how they treat their fund shareholders, and their investment philosophy. Being isolated from the noisy financial centers of the world, they really do take a long-term view of things. Their basic fixed-income offerings are run with a barbell style, very unusual, but successful. Their Income Builder TIBIX has one of the very best long-term records, and it has been totally consistent in its investment approach since the beginning. In fact, just about all of their funds have strikingly good long-term records. If they launch a new fund and it does not pan out, they waste no time in closing it, unlike a lot of shops that work to take in more and more assets in the hopes that asset size alone will somehow make things right. It will be interesting to see what happens to THDIX now that star manager Kaufman was lured away by more money at Artisan. Assets are less than half of what they were prior to his leaving.
We use several of their funds in our client models, mostly because we know what we are getting.
By the way how is Thornburg manager record of fund owneship?
Now regarding TIBIX. It seems to stack up well against current category but it didn't in 2008 meltdown. IMHO it is much more risky fund than people think. Also if I'm not mistaken, when going got tough majority of its managers defected to PIMCO to start their "builder" fund. That bothers me as well.
I will shut up if Kaufman negotiates a bear market at Artisan. I'm just saying 2009 through off late has not been a hard time to invest for anyone.