Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Reply to @BobC: Agreed. PIMCO Sm Co Fdmtl IdxPLUS TR Strat Instl PCFIX is another one I discovered recently in the Small Blend Equity category, but it is a much different type of holding.
BTW, I think VWELX, FPACX, MFLDX, OAKBX, FVALX, PAUIX, AQRIX and DWGIX are all top notch.
I mentioned the about-to-launch low volatility small and mid-cap ETFs from Powershares above, and it turns out they're launching today, as XSLV and XMLV:
I agree with Andrei on small cap valuations; this edition of the usual turn-of-the-year small-cap rally has pushed them into the stratosphere. For value-conscious investors, I'd kinda doubt this is a great time to put new $ into small caps ... but moving from high-vol to low-vol investments in the space might not be a bad idea.
Pity the poor fools like me who have been primarily trading 100% bond funds since December 16, 2008 trying to make the transition back to stocks i.e. how late to the party are we. I now have two mid cap blend funds - HFMDX and WSBEX, one small blend - MSCFX, and a large blend - SMVLX. PONDX is still my largest position ( over 80%) but that has stalled big time. Also have a stake in WAFMX but more on that later.
Reply to @Hiyield007: Hello again Hiyield. I suspect that this reluctant bull still has some room to run. But please beware, HFMDX, WSBEX, and SMVLX each drew down 50% during the financial crisis:
Reply to @Charles: Hi Charles, thanks but I am not an investor and would never sit through a 50% drawdown. I use a percentage stop from entry and trail that stop if the trade moves in my favor.
Reply to @andrei: Thanks andrei for feed to GMO...aka Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo. Here's link to site: https://www.gmo.com/America/MyHome. (It required a quick and easy registration.)
Below is graphic of the 7-year forecasts you reference. I like it! But I do see they have pretty large error bands...to their credit.
BTW. Whitebox has been shorting small caps for several months now...to David's frustration.
Reply to @perpetual_Bull: I could not find a global small cap fund from Artisan. The only one I could see was the international small cap (ARTJX). I do have ARTHX , but it is global large cap.
Two of my fav funds are closed ( i own both ) ARIVX & ARTQX. I also own FLPSX in this space. It all depends on what you're looking for, imo... and... how you build your portfolios.
The new Artisan global small cap fund will complete my Roth with only 5 funds.
Another fund to research is SMCDX. Its somewhat of a SMID. The ER is a little higher than I would like but the manager seems to be able to overcome that hurdle. It did suffer a 30% drawdown in 2008.
Reply to @Charles: Sorry for not responding to the group earlier. Decided on ICMAX, bought some in March, adding every month and have been happy so far.
Several folks mentioned ICMAX --- but Cinnamond, who led it brilliantly from 10/05 - 9/10 has been running ARIVX since then --- so I think the earlier record of ICMAX is not as relevant. For small cap I like WEMMX, RYSEX, ARIVX, BRUFX (now more mid than small and it's actually a balanced fund), and on the growth side BCSIX, JATTX and CIPSX (several of these have already been mentioned.) For mid cap I like TRMCX, FPPTX, TILDX, ICMBX (actually an allocator which has a midcap average), and on the growth side AKREX and BCMSX and SCMDX. All of these have 5 year records (except ARIVX, where you need to look at ICMAX for the earlier period) and good upside/downside capture ratios. All did better than their style group in the 2008 debacle.
Reply to @NumbersGal: JATTX managers, Chad Meade and Brian Schaub, have left Janus and joined Arrowpoint, a hedge fund. Soon after Arrowpoint announced acquisition of Aster which is advisor to Meridian Funds. I think the duo will probably manage Meridian Growth, MERDX.
Comments
BTW, I think VWELX, FPACX, MFLDX, OAKBX, FVALX, PAUIX, AQRIX and DWGIX are all top notch.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/low-vol-goes-small-111412943.html
I agree with Andrei on small cap valuations; this edition of the usual turn-of-the-year small-cap rally has pushed them into the stratosphere. For value-conscious investors, I'd kinda doubt this is a great time to put new $ into small caps ... but moving from high-vol to low-vol investments in the space might not be a bad idea.
Below is graphic of the 7-year forecasts you reference. I like it! But I do see they have pretty large error bands...to their credit.
BTW. Whitebox has been shorting small caps for several months now...to David's frustration
I could not find a global small cap fund from Artisan. The only one I could see was the international small cap (ARTJX). I do have ARTHX , but it is global large cap.
This video talks about a few solid small cap funds:
http://www.morningstar.com/cover/videocenter.aspx?id=584328
CCASX is NTF at Fidelity
BERWX TF fee
Two of my fav funds are closed ( i own both ) ARIVX & ARTQX. I also own FLPSX in this space. It all depends on what you're looking for, imo... and... how you build your portfolios.
The new Artisan global small cap fund will complete my Roth with only 5 funds.
JPVTX
FPACX
ARTGX
MAPIX
ARTWX ( New )
SMID: http://blog.alliancebernstein.com/index.php/2013/02/20/where-smid-caps-get-their-performance-muscle/
For small cap I like WEMMX, RYSEX, ARIVX, BRUFX (now more mid than small and it's actually a balanced fund), and on the growth side BCSIX, JATTX and CIPSX (several of these have already been mentioned.)
For mid cap I like TRMCX, FPPTX, TILDX, ICMBX (actually an allocator which has a midcap average), and on the growth side AKREX and BCMSX and SCMDX.
All of these have 5 year records (except ARIVX, where you need to look at ICMAX for the earlier period) and good upside/downside capture ratios. All did better than their style group in the 2008 debacle.