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I used the premium screener to find EM equity funds with the lowest p/e ratios and ended up with 8 funds with a p/e below 15 and a p/b below 1.5.
Advisory Research Emerging Markets Opportunities (ADVMX) sort of stands out. AllianzGI Emerging Markets Small-Cap A (ALMMX) is newer and pricey, but has been doing well.
Beyond that, I found six ETFs and one recently-liquidated fund.
David
Voila! Didn't think of using P/E ratio for fund to discover "value". Problem is even with Premium Screener there is no Emerging Markets screen, but just Foreign G/B/V. Will keep this in mind for future.
LOL. @VintageFreak: PRIJX (TRP) ...A very young fund, going back to Sept, 2015.
Now you are talking. You guessed I asked the question because I wanted a place where I could buy without load and at brokerage. I do have an account with TRP and this seems like a good option to research.
Well, if you select "category: emerging markets" and then the portfolio parameters, you can generate a screen pretty easily, including an option to screen out ETFs in favor of just active and passive OEFs.
I used the premium screener to find EM equity funds with the lowest p/e ratios and ended up with 8 funds with a p/e below 15 and a p/b below 1.5. ... David
Voila! Didn't think of using P/E ratio for fund to discover "value". Problem is even with Premium Screener there is no Emerging Markets screen, but just Foreign G/B/V. Will keep this in mind for future.
I don't think David has given you his complete screen. If you screen for this category (again, at M*), and the P/E, P/B figures he gave, you get 45 funds (out of a universe of 230 EM funds). If you add the requirement that the portfolio not be large cap, then you come up with 8 funds. That's "equity style box != large".
This seems like a quirky screen. A P/E ratio of 15 is well above the MSCI EM index figure of 12.8 and also above the diversified EM category average of 13.8. This wider net doesn't have an effect on the non-large cap EM funds though. All 8 small/mid cap EM funds have P/E's below 13.8.
But in setting the P/E above the benchmark, it does seem designed to include SIVLX. That's the only one of the 8 that would be eliminated by requiring the P/E to be below the 12.8 figure of the benchmark index.
One could take M*'s definition of value instead (not that this is any better or worse, just different), by screening for "equity style box = value" instead of P/E, P/B figures. That will give you 9 funds, with just 6 in common with the other screen. It introduces three different funds (and drops two).
P.S. to Shadow - I see you fixed the ticker symbol. LZEOX used to be a different Lazard fund until it was merged into LZUOX around the end of 2006. http://www.lazardnet.com/lam/us/funds/equity.shtml (LZEOX fund page)
Ted, the point is that several commonly used brokerages do not handle the investor shares, as was noted earlier in the thread. That's true for Fidelity, where SIVLX at $25k initial is the best anyone can do. Of course you can set up a separate account with Seafarer, but the extra hassle to many of us isn't worth it. -- Andy J.
@AndyJ: One would think if the fund is worth buying, then setting up a separate with Seafarer is worth it. With the ability to electronic transfer money, its a no-brainer ! Regards, Ted
Whatever you want to do, no worries, Ted. But your earlier post deserved clarification, in that the way most people invest, the investor shares are not typically available.
I wasn't using Morningstar. I was using the Lipper database that MFO screens through. There are many ways to define "value" but the portfolio metrics we have preset in the screener is p/e and p/b. I tried the lowest p/e (<10) and got two funds, one of which is liquidating, so bumped up to the next-lowest setting (<15). That leads to nine OEFs:
AllianzGI Emerging Markets Small-Cap Fund; Institutional Class Shares ALAIX AllianzGI NFJ Emerging Markets Value Fund; Institutional Class Shares AZMIX Salient Frontier Strategy Fund; Institutional Class Shares FRNMX HSBC Frontier Markets Fund; Class I Shares HSFIX Advisory Research Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund ADVMX Segall Bryant & Hamill Emerging Markets Fund; Class I Shares SBEMX US Global Investors Emerging Europe Fund EUROX Virtus Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund; Class I Shares VEIIX Voya Russia Fund; Class A Shares LETRX
(The system defaults to oldest share class which is often institutional, which explains the "class I" dominance.)
The Salient fund is liquidating, US Global is Europe-only, HSBC is frontier-only, which leaves six broad, low p/e options to explore.
There are, certainly, other ways to measure "value" beyond p/e. That said, a couple were interesting so I thought I'd share.
As msf mentioned you can choose category=international equity [diversified emerging mkts] in M*'s Premium screener but you can then also choose equity style box=value. I added in limiting the results to Distinct Portfolios only and funds that are open to new investment and I got 52 results. From a quick glance through the results and your comments above I'd guess most of what you might be interested in has already been listed here but hopefully I helped a little with the screener.
Thanks David. I'll have to cross check with Lipper. It's interesting to see what does and doesn't show up depending on who's doing the classifying and how "value" is defined.
That's what makes playing with screeners fun. You get a better feel for the differences between funds around the edges when forced to dig into these details.
I see that the Segall Bryant & Hamill fund (SBEMX) is a large cap fund, so you weren't excluding funds by cap size. Which raises the question why all the large cap EM value-ish funds that the M* screen found were excluded by MFO/Lipper.
The M* screener (using P/E <= 15, P/B <= 1.4, category = EM) comes up with several funds not on your list. Like the MFO screener, M*'s generally returns the oldest share class.
Lipper says that this is an EM fund. Maybe the P/B in the MFO database differs slightly from M*'s; the latter says 1.38, so it's close to a cutoff.
FWIW, here are the nine funds that M* finds using its definition of value (and also excluding large cap funds): Advisory Research Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund ADVMX AllianzGI Emerging Markets Small-Cap Fund; Institutional Class Shares ALAIX Ashmore Emerging Markets Eq Opps Fund; Institutional Class Shares AEOIX Ashmore Emerging Markets Frontier Equity Fund; Institutional Class Shares EFEIX (Frontier only) DFA Emerging Markets Small Cap Fund; Class I Shares DEMSX Seafarer Overseas Value - now there's a surprise Templeton Frontier Markets; Advisor Class Shares FFRZX (Frontier only) Victory Trivalent Emerging Market Small-Cap Fund; Class Y Shares MYEMX (A shares NTF@Fidelity) Virtus Emerging Market Small Cap Fund; Class I Shares VIESX
I suggest researching ALAIX carefully before jumping in; overall performance is good, but it looks like almost all of its pop (relative to peers) came in its first quarter (2Q2015) when it returned 6.05% vs. about 1/2% for peers.
A large cap EM fund that passes M*'s "value" screen (but barely misses the P/B criterion, at 1.46) is Blackrock Total Emerging Markets Fund; Institutional Class Shares BEEIX
This looks a lot different from other funds; it's more like a world allocation fund restricted to emerging markets. Uses a lot of leverage, derivatives, etc. Not your father's EM fund. Available with a $2500 min (but TF) @Fidelity in IRAs. BEEAX available load-waived in all accounts.
"Total" usually signals "balanced," at least in EM funds.
Charles is certainly more likely to understand the intricacies of the data than I am; I'm sure there's a good reason why Lipper and Morningstar return different funds from, ostensibly, the same screen but I don't know what that reason is.
Interesting observation about "Total". Seems to be correct, though there are only four EM funds with "Total" in their name.
Of the 85 non-index funds of any type with "Total" in their name, only 15 are in a broad sense balanced (at least 10% bond and at least 10% US or 10% foreign stock). Four are the EM funds, one is a large cap fund (DHDIX), six are "true" domestic allocation funds, one (MFSRX) is a "true" world allocation fund, and three are multi-alternative funds.
What is distinctive about the Blackrock fund (BEEIX) is not so much that it's balanced, as its use of derivatives. 111% long in equity (net 54%), 62% bond, and 38% long in cash (net -17%). Not your typical "Total" fund. More like the multi-alternative funds that just happen to include bonds in their toolbox.
LOL. @VintageFreak: PRIJX (TRP) ...A very young fund, going back to Sept, 2015.
Now you are talking. You guessed I asked the question because I wanted a place where I could buy without load and at brokerage. I do have an account with TRP and this seems like a good option to research.
Has anybody else thought of investing in this new Seafarer Fund? I have no IRA space left and so I was thinking of purchasing this in my taxable account. I'm assuming that if Mr Foster has hired Mr Espinosa to manage this fund, I should feel confident in the fund's future. Also I like how it looks like an all-cap fund (although this may change as assets crowd out smaller opportunities) and that it's not as concentrated in China as some of the EM indices.
@AndyJ, I am investing with Andrew Foster's fund but not this new EM value fund. For now it is too new for me and I prefer the Seafarer Oversea Growth and Income fund. Mr. Foster track record goes back to the days of Matthew Asia Growth & Income fund.
If you wish to invest in the institutional shares, Seafarer makes it possible for retail investors with a minimum of $1,500 with an automatic investment of $100 (minimum). So you really don't need $25K as the minimum. Also you can transfer additional IRA fund from other brokerages to Seafarer if you wish. Andrew Foster is one of the few fund manager I follow for many years.
Having a wider EM universe beyond Asia and much smaller asset base really helped. Furthermore he was able to close his funds at about $1B in asset - something he cannot do at Matthews. At the same time the management fee was reduced to benefit the shareholders. It is one of the lowest fee for actively managed EM funds. As I noted above, retail investors can now access the institutional share at a very reason $ amount instead of $1M.
The most interesting development so far, in the short story of Seafarer Value: in the week following the US presidential election (11/8-11/15), SFGIX and Morningstar's EM peer group dropped a bit under 6%. SFVLX, which is fully invested, dropped about 0.85%. In the three days following the election, the EMs dropped about 4% and SFVLX about 0.1%.
Seafarer says "cash and other" is 16% of the portfolio; Morningstar says cash is de minimis and "other" is about a third. Hmmm ... Seafarer's portfolio report is 9/30, Morningstar's is 7/30. Not sure why they haven't updated. I've been trying not to pester Seafarer so Paul can focus on getting things running, but perhaps after the 12/30 portfolio update I might ask to talk.
@David_Snowball, I noticed the low volatility trend since 11/8. It is more likely other factors besides high cash position contributed to this behavior. Perhaps Paul will share more details on the portfolio in the near future.
Comments
Regards,
Ted
http://www.morningstar.com/funds/XNAS/SFVLX/quote.html
Thanks much.
Well, if you select "category: emerging markets" and then the portfolio parameters, you can generate a screen pretty easily, including an option to screen out ETFs in favor of just active and passive OEFs.
David
I don't think David has given you his complete screen. If you screen for this category (again, at M*), and the P/E, P/B figures he gave, you get 45 funds (out of a universe of 230 EM funds). If you add the requirement that the portfolio not be large cap, then you come up with 8 funds. That's "equity style box != large".
This seems like a quirky screen. A P/E ratio of 15 is well above the MSCI EM index figure of 12.8 and also above the diversified EM category average of 13.8. This wider net doesn't have an effect on the non-large cap EM funds though. All 8 small/mid cap EM funds have P/E's below 13.8.
But in setting the P/E above the benchmark, it does seem designed to include SIVLX. That's the only one of the 8 that would be eliminated by requiring the P/E to be below the 12.8 figure of the benchmark index.
One could take M*'s definition of value instead (not that this is any better or worse, just different), by screening for "equity style box = value" instead of P/E, P/B figures. That will give you 9 funds, with just 6 in common with the other screen. It introduces three different funds (and drops two).
P.S. to Shadow - I see you fixed the ticker symbol. LZEOX used to be a different Lazard fund until it was merged into LZUOX around the end of 2006.
http://www.lazardnet.com/lam/us/funds/equity.shtml (LZEOX fund page)
I fixed the Acadian symbol also. I always get both funds' symbols wrong.
Regards,
Ted
I wasn't using Morningstar. I was using the Lipper database that MFO screens through. There are many ways to define "value" but the portfolio metrics we have preset in the screener is p/e and p/b. I tried the lowest p/e (<10) and got two funds, one of which is liquidating, so bumped up to the next-lowest setting (<15). That leads to nine OEFs:
AllianzGI Emerging Markets Small-Cap Fund; Institutional Class Shares ALAIX
AllianzGI NFJ Emerging Markets Value Fund; Institutional Class Shares AZMIX
Salient Frontier Strategy Fund; Institutional Class Shares FRNMX
HSBC Frontier Markets Fund; Class I Shares HSFIX
Advisory Research Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund ADVMX
Segall Bryant & Hamill Emerging Markets Fund; Class I Shares SBEMX
US Global Investors Emerging Europe Fund EUROX
Virtus Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund; Class I Shares VEIIX
Voya Russia Fund; Class A Shares LETRX
(The system defaults to oldest share class which is often institutional, which explains the "class I" dominance.)
The Salient fund is liquidating, US Global is Europe-only, HSBC is frontier-only, which leaves six broad, low p/e options to explore.
There are, certainly, other ways to measure "value" beyond p/e. That said, a couple were interesting so I thought I'd share.
As ever,
David
As msf mentioned you can choose category=international equity [diversified emerging mkts] in M*'s Premium screener but you can then also choose equity style box=value. I added in limiting the results to Distinct Portfolios only and funds that are open to new investment and I got 52 results. From a quick glance through the results and your comments above I'd guess most of what you might be interested in has already been listed here but hopefully I helped a little with the screener.
That's what makes playing with screeners fun. You get a better feel for the differences between funds around the edges when forced to dig into these details.
I see that the Segall Bryant & Hamill fund (SBEMX) is a large cap fund, so you weren't excluding funds by cap size. Which raises the question why all the large cap EM value-ish funds that the M* screen found were excluded by MFO/Lipper.
The M* screener (using P/E <= 15, P/B <= 1.4, category = EM) comes up with several funds not on your list. Like the MFO screener, M*'s generally returns the oldest share class.
One that shows up with this screen is:
ICON EM Fund, class S ICARX (NTF @TrowePrice)
https://www3.troweprice.com/fb2/fbkweb/gateway/snapshot.do?ticker=ICARX
Lipper says that this is an EM fund. Maybe the P/B in the MFO database differs slightly from M*'s; the latter says 1.38, so it's close to a cutoff.
FWIW, here are the nine funds that M* finds using its definition of value (and also excluding large cap funds):
Advisory Research Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund ADVMX
AllianzGI Emerging Markets Small-Cap Fund; Institutional Class Shares ALAIX
Ashmore Emerging Markets Eq Opps Fund; Institutional Class Shares AEOIX
Ashmore Emerging Markets Frontier Equity Fund; Institutional Class Shares EFEIX (Frontier only)
DFA Emerging Markets Small Cap Fund; Class I Shares DEMSX
Seafarer Overseas Value - now there's a surprise
Templeton Frontier Markets; Advisor Class Shares FFRZX (Frontier only)
Victory Trivalent Emerging Market Small-Cap Fund; Class Y Shares MYEMX (A shares NTF@Fidelity)
Virtus Emerging Market Small Cap Fund; Class I Shares VIESX
I suggest researching ALAIX carefully before jumping in; overall performance is good, but it looks like almost all of its pop (relative to peers) came in its first quarter (2Q2015) when it returned 6.05% vs. about 1/2% for peers.
A large cap EM fund that passes M*'s "value" screen (but barely misses the P/B criterion, at 1.46) is
Blackrock Total Emerging Markets Fund; Institutional Class Shares BEEIX
This looks a lot different from other funds; it's more like a world allocation fund restricted to emerging markets. Uses a lot of leverage, derivatives, etc. Not your father's EM fund. Available with a $2500 min (but TF) @Fidelity in IRAs. BEEAX available load-waived in all accounts.
Charles is certainly more likely to understand the intricacies of the data than I am; I'm sure there's a good reason why Lipper and Morningstar return different funds from, ostensibly, the same screen but I don't know what that reason is.
Of the 85 non-index funds of any type with "Total" in their name, only 15 are in a broad sense balanced (at least 10% bond and at least 10% US or 10% foreign stock). Four are the EM funds, one is a large cap fund (DHDIX), six are "true" domestic allocation funds, one (MFSRX) is a "true" world allocation fund, and three are multi-alternative funds.
What is distinctive about the Blackrock fund (BEEIX) is not so much that it's balanced, as its use of derivatives. 111% long in equity (net 54%), 62% bond, and 38% long in cash (net -17%). Not your typical "Total" fund. More like the multi-alternative funds that just happen to include bonds in their toolbox.
If you wish to invest in the institutional shares, Seafarer makes it possible for retail investors with a minimum of $1,500 with an automatic investment of $100 (minimum). So you really don't need $25K as the minimum. Also you can transfer additional IRA fund from other brokerages to Seafarer if you wish. Andrew Foster is one of the few fund manager I follow for many years.
Seafarer says "cash and other" is 16% of the portfolio; Morningstar says cash is de minimis and "other" is about a third. Hmmm ... Seafarer's portfolio report is 9/30, Morningstar's is 7/30. Not sure why they haven't updated. I've been trying not to pester Seafarer so Paul can focus on getting things running, but perhaps after the 12/30 portfolio update I might ask to talk.
David