Bretton Fund 3 Years Next Month - On Track for Great Owl Status

Charles

In the September commentary, David recommended we read Mr. Dodson's latest letter to Bretton Fund BRTNX shareholders:

Stephen recently posted his most recent letter to his shareholders. He does a nice job of walking folks through the core of his investing discipline with some current illustrations. The short version is that he’s looking for firms with durable competitive advantages in healthy industries whose stocks are selling at a substantial discount.

I believe that next month will mark three years since BRTNX launched. Looking at the risk/return numbers through August, unless we get surprised, I predict it will be an MFO Great Owl when the ratings get updated through 3Q2013. Here are the numbers against other notables in (and out of) its current category over same period:



Similarly, suspect it will receive high number of stars (at least four, maybe five) from Morningstar. Here's how it plots against current 5 star gold-rated fund FMIMX:



BRTNX is one of my favorite young funds. Hopefully, the recognition (and new availability at Vanguard) will help grow AUM enabling Mr. Dobson to reduce ER.

It was first profiled by David in February 2012.

AndyJ

Steady as she goes, BRTNX.

Old_Joe

FWIW, not available through Schwab.

Carefree

I have tried having Ameritrade and Schwab carry this fund...but no luck

VirtueRunsDeep

Not available on Fidelity -- not even for a fee.

Ted

Reply to @VirtueRunsDeep: BRTNX Availability From M*
Regards,
Ted

Brokerage Availability

BRTNX





DailyAccess Corporation Matrix TD Ameritrade Trust Company

DailyAccess Corporation RTC Vanguard TF

Pershing FundCenter

claimui

Thanks for the tip about Vanguard availability. Requires a transaction fee, but brokerage availability makes this much more attractive for me.

I like the combination of all-cap scope, concentrated portfolio and relatively low turnover. It seems like a similar strategy to Beck Mack & Oliver Partners BMPEX, which is profiled by David this month.

What makes me a little wary of Bretton are the relatively high expense ratio (1.50%) and very small asset size ($6.7 million) -- the latter of which makes me wonder if the fund will be sustainable. BMPEX, on the other hand, charges 1.00% on assets of $144 million.

Old_Joe

Reply to @claimui: Right- I've got BMPEX on my watch list too.

ron

We own FMIMX and these 2 mid-cap ETF's, so you don't really need to have a managed fund, do you? IJJ and VXF will do just fine.
http://screencast.com/t/BzHRABWANv

VintageFreak

After making some "Utopian" and "Rational" mistakes, I simply can't get excited about a fund that shows $6M in assets.

Hopefully 3 year record will drive some publicity and asset growth making fund sustainable, only after which I will put it on my watchlist.

andrei

During the same time period, AKRIX beats BRTNX hands down, with smaller volatility.

Ted

Reply to @andrei: Even though the fund will only be three years old, 9/30/13, it trails it's benchmark, and like VintageFreak it's hard for me to get excited about BRTNX. I have a standard rule, never consider a fund until it's a least three years old.
Regards,
Ted
Lipper Snapshot BRTNX: http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/brtnx

Charles

Reply to @Ted: Hmm, I have it beating SP500 and M* Mid Cap Blend category with less volatility. I think it also beats Wilshire 5000. What am I missing?

Ted

Reply to @Charles: I not trying to 'Data Mine' YTD the fund is OK, but 1-year returns indicate the following.
Regards,
Ted
One Year : http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=BRTNX+Interactive#symbol=brtnx;range=1y;compare=^gspc+^mid+^w5000;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;

YTD: http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=BRTNX+Interactive#symbol=brtnx;range=ytd;compare=^gspc+^mid+^w5000;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;

Charles

Reply to @Ted: Come on Brother Ted. You're not allowed to say: "Even though the fund will only be three years old, 9/30/13, it trails it's benchmark..." Then, quote a one-year metric.

BRTNX beats its benchmark(s) over the past 35 months. And, come next month, I expect it will beat over past three years. In its current category, it should to be in top 20% based on risk adjusted return, specifically Martin ratio, earning Great Owl designation.

Fingers-crossed, it will receive high number of stars from M* next month as well, bringing the fund more well-deserved attention.

Here's M* performance plot from its inception:

VintageFreak

By the way, still not NTF at Vanguard and says minimum of $5K.

Charles

Hey, Bretton has 4 stars from M* in first three years of operation:



And, MFO ratings updated through 3Q2013 puts it in the top risk adjusted group for all Mid-Cap Blend funds, earning it a 3 year Great Owl designation, as expected.

philpill

great owl? wrong bird...turkey maybe. here are yahoo per - centiles for various time increments against itss catagory. what are we missing?
mid cap blend catagory:

Year To Date 82 %
1-Month 86 %
3-Month 100 %
6-Month 37 %
1-Year 96 %
3-Year 48 %

VintageFreak

No disrespect folks. Fund should not really be rated unless it goes through one bear and one bull cycle. However, I will celebrate along...

Charles

Ha! Bretton isn't missing much.

Annualized return is 16.6%. Ulcer Index only 2.8. Sharpe 1.4 and Martin an eye-watering 5.8.

Come on. At the 3 year milestone, its numbers look great.

Sure, no big drop in market 'cept late 2011 (thanks goodness), but I like Vintage's put: Hats off to Bretton at the milestone.