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Good idea in checking track records, but perhaps the better fund to look at would be AllianzGI International Managed Volatility, e.g. PNIDX (D shares), NAISX (Inst. shares).
The lead manager (Ghosh) of AVYDX didn't start managing US Managed Volatility until 2009, and other AVYDX managers started even later on the US fund, or never managed it. In contrast, Ghosh and Teal (another AVYDX manager) have been managing the Int'l fund since 2006 (thus spanning the 2008 era). FWIW, the other AVYDX manager - Roemer - managed the Int'l fund until 2006 and rejoined it this year.
Int'l Managed Volatility was very good until 2006; once these managers took over, the best it did was 46th percentile, and usually in the bottom 30%. (This year it is leading the pack, but the year is young.) In 2008, the fund landed in the 70th percentile (for Foreign LC Blend), but in terms of raw numbers, underperformed by only a couple of percent (losing about 46%). An objective of these managed volatility funds appears to be reduced risk, not most gain; this is reflected in the three star risk-adjusted rating the fund holds, despite notably subpar returns.
In terms of management and numbers (haven't looked into portfolio, investment philosophy, etc.), I have a couple of concerns. One I already noted - there was a decided downward turn in performance when these managers took over the Int'l fund in 2006. The other is the manager turnover. Two managers started this fund a year ago; one left after a year (12/31/12), to be replaced by two other managers. This makes it even more difficult to read anything into the one year performance record of the fund.
Comments
The lead manager (Ghosh) of AVYDX didn't start managing US Managed Volatility until 2009, and other AVYDX managers started even later on the US fund, or never managed it. In contrast, Ghosh and Teal (another AVYDX manager) have been managing the Int'l fund since 2006 (thus spanning the 2008 era). FWIW, the other AVYDX manager - Roemer - managed the Int'l fund until 2006 and rejoined it this year.
Int'l Managed Volatility was very good until 2006; once these managers took over, the best it did was 46th percentile, and usually in the bottom 30%. (This year it is leading the pack, but the year is young.) In 2008, the fund landed in the 70th percentile (for Foreign LC Blend), but in terms of raw numbers, underperformed by only a couple of percent (losing about 46%). An objective of these managed volatility funds appears to be reduced risk, not most gain; this is reflected in the three star risk-adjusted rating the fund holds, despite notably subpar returns.
In terms of management and numbers (haven't looked into portfolio, investment philosophy, etc.), I have a couple of concerns. One I already noted - there was a decided downward turn in performance when these managers took over the Int'l fund in 2006. The other is the manager turnover. Two managers started this fund a year ago; one left after a year (12/31/12), to be replaced by two other managers. This makes it even more difficult to read anything into the one year performance record of the fund.
Could you please hit Edit link available on your opening post and edit out the extra bunch of lines at the end of your post and save it again? Thanks.