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Two Top Fixed-Income Portfolio Managers Exit Eaton Vance: Kathleen Gaffney & Henry Peabody: (EVBAX)
I wish Ms. Gaffney well as I felt she should have kept her alignment with Fuss (and crew) and not moved to Eaton Vance in the first place. But, no doubt she felt differently. And, now look at the challenge she faces in finding another home. I'm thinking she had a good deal with Fuss and could have sat in the rocking chair, so to speak, and done very well for herself if she had kept her alignment with Fuss.
I'm guessing if she chose, she could sit comfortibly in a rocker in some mansion on a beach front for the rest of her life. I also think if she chooses too, can get a lead manager job in any bond house in the industry, including Loomis.
@MikeM: Back in early 2016 she was beating the boys including Fuss, Gross, Hasenstab, Gundlach, Ivascyn. Regards, Ted First Quarter 2016: Gaffney: EVBAX 4.24% Fuss: LSBRX 2.73% Gross: JUCAX 2.18% Gundlach: DBLTX 1.75% Ivascyn: PIMIX 1.74% Hasenstab TPINX -(0.14)%
Hi @Ted, Let's look at this for a rolling 5 year time span against some other multi sector bond funds. The three I selected, which I own, were PONAX, LBNDX & JGIAX. EVBAX came in a distant fourth and just behind Fuss (and team) with their fund NEFZX which I also own. It will be interesting to see were she lights. Needless to say, I'm not that impressed as EVBAX was once a highly touted flagship bond fund for Eaton Vance and when compared to the flagship bond fund of the others it comes up short. At one time, I was invested in EVBAX after Gaffney took charge and decided, about a year after she came, to move my EVBAX money into LBNDX making it my largest fixed income holding. And, I'm now glad I did. PONAX and JGIAX are funds that I have added to my income sleeve within the past twelve months, or so, as I continue to build an enhance my income sleeve.
FWIW, over the past five years (7/21/14 to 7/19/19) even NEFZX has outpaced EVABX, 9.21% annualized vs. 9.10%. LSBDX did better, at 11.32%. (It's still possible to coax this info out of M*, though not as easy as before.
As far as beating other funds for the first quarter of 2016 (one quarter, really?), I don't need M* to remind me that Gaffney went swinging for the fences. She was holding even more non-bond securities than LSBDX. For a short time it worked, until it didn't.
M*'s comments on her style: Concentrated bets on commodities have made for a wild ride.... The team ... often chooses to simultaneously invest in several correlated groups of assets .... As most commodity-related fare sold off in 2015, for example, the fund had nearly 20% [equity/bond] exposure ... in addition to 15% of its currency exposure in commodity-related currencies.... This explains the fund’s last place finish within the multisector bond Morningstar Category that year, when it trailed ... by 15 percentage points. ... the same profile ignited the fund’s strong subsequent rally."
I stayed with Dan Fuss when Kathleen Gaffney left her fund at Eaton Vance (glad I did). Her fund has all the potential to do really well with a small asset and the experience she acquired from Dan Fuss. Sadly this did not translated anywhere near that. Instead, EVBAX went thorough several years of under-performance trailing LSBDX as msf noted the "swinging for the fences" as shown in the volatility.
Comments
Regards,
Ted
First Quarter 2016:
Gaffney: EVBAX 4.24%
Fuss: LSBRX 2.73%
Gross: JUCAX 2.18%
Gundlach: DBLTX 1.75%
Ivascyn: PIMIX 1.74%
Hasenstab TPINX -(0.14)%
"'Dan Fuss pioneered the benchmark-agnostic, multisector approach to fixed-income that has defined the firm’s flagship Loomis Sayles Bond (LSBDX) since 1991." ... said Alfonzo Bruno, Manager Research Analyst at Morningstar.“
https://www.loomissayles.com/internet/InternetData.nsf/0/2F18CD9C1404261D852583F500624095/$FILE/MSTARAWARDSFORINVESTINGEXCELLENCE.pdf
FWIW, over the past five years (7/21/14 to 7/19/19) even NEFZX has outpaced EVABX, 9.21% annualized vs. 9.10%. LSBDX did better, at 11.32%. (It's still possible to coax this info out of M*, though not as easy as before.
As far as beating other funds for the first quarter of 2016 (one quarter, really?), I don't need M* to remind me that Gaffney went swinging for the fences. She was holding even more non-bond securities than LSBDX. For a short time it worked, until it didn't.
M*'s comments on her style: Concentrated bets on commodities have made for a wild ride.... The team ... often chooses to simultaneously invest in several correlated groups of assets .... As most commodity-related fare sold off in 2015, for example, the fund had nearly 20% [equity/bond] exposure ... in addition to 15% of its currency exposure in commodity-related currencies.... This explains the fund’s last place finish within the multisector bond Morningstar Category that year, when it trailed ... by 15 percentage points. ... the same profile ignited the fund’s strong subsequent rally."