Marsico Flexible Capital Fund (MFCFX) is unique in terms of being large growth oriented but with the ability to go defensive. A lot of people left the fund when Doug Rao left. I am curious if anyone has identified a good substitute for it? One option is LSWWX but I haven't come across any others. I'm also curious if anyone has ventured back into MFCFX? It is puzzling that, even when Rao was on the fund, the fund was unable to gather a lot of assets in spite of performing well.
Thanks in advance,
BWG
Comments
It did not perform well in 2011. 2012 was much better.
We own PVSYX which may also invest across a company's capital structure like MFCFX, although it targets leveraged companies. PVSYX is multicap with a much lower average market cap than the LCG MFCFX. So PVSYX is not a direct substitute for MFCFX.
Kevin
Three NTF funds that seems to have great 10 year performance are VLAAX (ER 1.24), BUFBX (ER 1.01) and PRWCX (ER .71). Here they are charted with Kevindow Marisco choice, CCMZX (2 year existence), as well as the orginal MFCFX (same fund as CCMZX, but in existence for the full 10 year time frame).
As you can see, MFCFX's out performance (compared to these other choices) seems to have occurred mostly during the 2009-2011 time frame. Good Luck...Good management...or a little bit of both.
I mention this not to knock the fund (it was one I was at least keeping an eye on, but the expectation of the ER doubling was enough to keep me away). Rather, I point this out to gain some insight into his defensive performance. In 2008, the fund still lost 34% - a bit better than the S&P and LCG, but much worse than moderate allocation funds. True he went to cash (over 20%, per M*), but no bonds (79.51% in equities as of 9/30/2008, per annual report), which might have helped defensively even better. (Barclays US Aggregate Bond Total Return index returned 5.24% in 2008; on a quarterly basis, the index lost 1.02% in Q2, 0.49% in Q3, but came roaring back at 4.58% in Q4 - all data from M*).
So while the fund fared somewhat better than average in 2008, it was nothing spectacular. And in the only subsequent year when LCG funds lost money (2011), the fund underperformed. Maybe you're seeing something I'm not at this 1000 ft level, but I don't see a fund that excels at playing defense.
All of which goes to explain why I did a quick search for world allocation funds with over 10% in cash (for comparison, MFCFX is currently a tad under 20% as of last report), and a LCG portfolio. Call me crazy, but CRAZX (Columbia Risk Allocation, Z shares) popped up, as did American Century Global Allocation (AGAVX). These are both funds of funds, with a hefty dose of alternative investments (Columbia Commodity Strategy (CCIYX) for the former, and real estate (ARYNX), commodities (GSG), a variety of gold funds and ETFs, etc. for the latter.
The former is just a half year old with just $13M in assets (as of 12/31), and an ER of 0.82 after including a fee waiver of 0.70%, in effect until 9/30/2014. Don't know much about its managers beyond apparently getting moved around quite a bit.
The latter is a year old, with an ER of 1.25% after including an interesting fee waiver - "expected to remain in effect permanently and it cannot be terminated without approval of the Board of Directors." The management team here also manages AC's target date funds, all of which have 5* ratings, except the Income fund (4*). FWIW.
Sight unseen (i.e. without looking more under the covers), if I had to choose between these, I'd take American Century. Respectable family (despite its affiliation with Lance Armstrong), not prone to gimmicks. Columbia, though it still has some respectable funds like the Wanger (Acorn) funds, seems to put out funds for marketing reasons, is largely a load family, was sold from BofA (bad) to Ameriprise (worse, IMHO).
Still, with no track records, each is a shot in the dark.
BWG
You noted: MFCFX is available via Fidelity, NTF. I don't understand the situation you noted.
Regards,
Catch
BWG