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Laura Geritz (Wasatch) is out

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/806633/000119312516613617/d202782d497.htm

497 1 d202782d497.htm WASATCH FUNDS TRUST
WASATCH FUNDS TRUST

Supplement dated June 6, 2016 to the

Prospectus and Summary Prospectus each dated January 31, 2016

Investor Class

Wasatch Frontier Emerging Small Countries Fund® - Investor Class (WAFMX)

This Supplement updates certain information contained in the Wasatch Funds Prospectus for Investor Class shares and the Wasatch Frontier Emerging Small Countries Fund Summary Prospectus for Investor Class shares, each dated January 31, 2016 as amended. You should retain this Supplement, the Prospectus and Summary Prospectus for future reference. Additional copies of the Prospectus may be obtained free of charge by visiting our web site at www.WasatchFunds.com or calling us at 800.551.1700.

PORTFOLIO MANAGERS

Effective June 6, 2016, Roger Edgley will be the Lead Portfolio Manager of the Wasatch Frontier Emerging Small Countries Fund (the “Fund”), Jared Whatcott will be a Portfolio Manager of the Fund, and Scott Thomas will be a Portfolio Manager of the Fund.

All references to Laura Geritz are hereby deleted.

PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE




WASATCH FUNDS TRUST

Supplement dated June 6, 2016 to the

Prospectus and Summary Prospectus each dated January 31, 2016

Institutional Class

Wasatch Frontier Emerging Small Countries Fund® - Institutional Class (WIFMX)

This Supplement updates certain information contained in the Wasatch Funds Prospectus for Institutional Class shares and the Wasatch Frontier Emerging Small Countries Fund Summary Prospectus for Institutional Class shares, each dated January 31, 2016 as amended. You should retain this Supplement, the Prospectus and Summary Prospectus for future reference. Additional copies of the Prospectus may be obtained free of charge by visiting our web site at www.WasatchFunds.com or calling us at 800.551.1700.

PORTFOLIO MANAGERS

Effective June 6, 2016, Roger Edgley will be the Lead Portfolio Manager of the Wasatch Frontier Emerging Small Countries Fund (the “Fund”), Jared Whatcott will be a Portfolio Manager of the Fund, and Scott Thomas will be a Portfolio Manager of the Fund.

All references to Laura Geritz are hereby deleted.

PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE




WASATCH FUNDS TRUST

Supplement dated June 6, 2016 to the

Prospectus and Summary Prospectus each dated January 31, 2016

Investor Class

Wasatch International Opportunities Fund® - Investor Class (WAIOX)

This Supplement updates certain information contained in the Wasatch Funds Prospectus for Investor Class shares and the Wasatch International Opportunities Fund Summary Prospectus for Investor Class shares, each dated January 31, 2016 as amended. You should retain this Supplement, the Prospectus and Summary Prospectus for future reference. Additional copies of the Prospectus may be obtained free of charge by visiting our web site at www.WasatchFunds.com or calling us at 800.551.1700.

PORTFOLIO MANAGERS

Effective June 6, 2016, Jared Whatcott will be a Portfolio Manager of the Wasatch International Opportunities Fund (the “Fund”) and Linda Lasater will be a Portfolio Manager of the Fund.

All references to Laura Geritz are hereby deleted.

PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE




WASATCH FUNDS TRUST

Supplement dated June 6, 2016 to the

Prospectus and Summary Prospectus each dated January 31, 2016

Institutional Class

Wasatch International Opportunities Fund® - Institutional Class (WAIOX)

This Supplement updates certain information contained in the Wasatch Funds Prospectus for Institutional Class shares and the Wasatch International Opportunities Fund Summary Prospectus for Institutional Class shares, each dated January 31, 2016 as amended. You should retain this Supplement, the Prospectus and Summary Prospectus for future reference. Additional copies of the Prospectus may be obtained free of charge by visiting our web site at www.WasatchFunds.com or calling us at 800.551.1700.

PORTFOLIO MANAGERS

Effective June 6, 2016, Jared Whatcott will be a Portfolio Manager of the Wasatch International Opportunities Fund (the “Fund”) and Linda Lasater will be a Portfolio Manager of the Fund.

All references to Laura Geritz are hereby deleted.

PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE ...
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Comments

  • Any word on what's going on here? Will she be resurfacing at another shop? Starting something on her own? She is a very talented and young investor.
  • @MFO Members: From the Wasatch Website.
    Regards,
    Ted
    https://secure.wasatchfunds.com/News.aspx
  • edited June 2016
    One of the articles indicated that they (Wastach) wished her will in her endeavors. I guess she decided it was time to move on. She will continue on at Wasatch until 6/30.

    http://www.wandtv.com/story/32153365/wasatch-announces-portfolio-manager-changes
  • We have put WAFMX and WAEMX (not actively managing the latter) on our watch list and will make a decision to sell or hold when we are able to review this change.
  • Has anyone heard anything about where she's going? Any chance the guys at GP were able to pluck her from their former employer?
  • @JoJo26:

    I was thinking along the same lines of GP.
  • JoJo26 said:

    Has anyone heard anything about where she's going? Any chance the guys at GP were able to pluck her from their former employer?

    That's funny! A few years ago I wrote to them and asked if they would consider a frontier markets fund and the response was that they didn't have any plans along those lines but they certainly didn't rule it out either. In some respects I think she'd be a reasonably good fit for GP's culture but I'd also prefer if they stuck to the originally stated plan, kept their AUM small and focused on being great at what they're doing. Nonetheless I'd buy a frontier markets fund from them in a heartbeat if that's what's going on.
  • If not a Frontier fund, she can still join their EM fund, right?
    It is a bit underwhelming fund so far based on its performance, and probably needs a good hand, though I am not sure how much she can help.
  • mrc70 said:

    If not a Frontier fund, she can still join their EM fund, right?
    It is a bit underwhelming fund so far based on its performance, and probably needs a good hand, though I am not sure how much she can help.

    Sure that would work and if her path is to GP it would make more sense because they haven't registered any new funds that you might think would happen if she was going to run a Frontier fund.

    I'm not sure I'd agree with "underwhelming" for GPEOX so far. The history is short so I don't think it means much in the bigger picture, but it's beating its primary and secondary benchmarks since inception and with the exception of YTD 2016 it has also beaten both of the benchmarks each year by a pretty wide margin.

    I think the confusion comes because M* lumps all diversified emerging markets funds together but the reality of the last few years has been that larger cap funds have done far better than smaller cap funds. If you look just at the emerging markets funds M* says are true small cap funds, of which there are very few, GPEOX is winning each year pretty easily. Even if you include mid-cap funds, of which there are more to compare, GPEOX is winning each year against most of those too. There's no question they've been in a tough place to play for a while now but in my mind they're doing really well against those they're competing with directly.

    They have 2.5 years under their belt so far and it'll be more interesting to talk about their performance after at least 5 years but if the goal is to be exposed to true small cap emerging markets, which mine certainly was, then I think this has been a good choice so far even with the high expense ratio.
  • Yes, M* separates domestic and international large and small cap, but has failed to do this with emerging markets. When we do this on our own it is one of the best.
  • @mrc70

    By what measure has the performance of GPEOX been underwhelming? Not really sure how you come to that conclusion...
  • I will take back my words. I am not closely monitoring my funds for 3-6 months, so I should have been careful before commenting. I think I went by absolute performance than relative in this case. The latter looks good by what I see on M*.

    I made 70% on GPOGX, but that pure luck in timing, and whereas GPEOX is in negative mostly since I brought and again that is pure bad luck in timing.:-)
  • I'm curious what people are doing with WAFMX with this news. Getting out? I'm not allowed to invest in Grandeur Peak (work conflicts of interest). What would you all recommend for a replacement?
  • I invested in WAFMX because I wanted exposure to frontier markets and because I saw promise in its consumer-heavy weighting. There are not a lot of options for frontier markets funds in general, and I believe all the others are more focused on financial stocks. So that would make WAFMX still the best choice given what's available.
  • Take a look at DRFRX. Short track record, do have an SMA that goes back a bit farther. Driehaus has a very good process and team. Low assets right now. Nice fit.
  • TD1 said:

    Take a look at DRFRX. Short track record, do have an SMA that goes back a bit farther. Driehaus has a very good process and team. Low assets right now. Nice fit.

    The biggest issue with the Driehaus fund is the $250K minimum investment/$100K for an IRA but if you're investing that kind of money then I'm also impressed with their approach. Is anyone aware of exceptions being made?

    Matthews Asia has a frontier fund, MEASX, that is not heavy on financials, still has a small asset base and has low expenses compared to other frontier funds. The only drawback in my mind is that they're focused on Asia's frontier markets, which have done very well lately, but you're not going to get broad coverage of frontier markets from this fund.

    Harding Loevner also has a fund, HLMOX, which is indeed pretty heavy on financials as claimui pointed out but I think they also have a very good process and a decent team. I think it's worth some research if you're looking for broader exposure.

    I'm holding WAFMX at least until we find out more about how Edgley plans to manage the fund. Hopefully the 2nd quarter commentary will give us some insight into his plans and his thought process. I also own MEASX but not HLMOX, at least so far.
  • I think you will find that WAFMX will not have as much "boots on the ground" as it used to. In addition, Edgley is now the head PM on 4 funds, not a good thing especially in a market as fickle as Frontier.
  • Anybody heard of where Ms. Geritz is heading?
  • "...All references to Laura Geritz are hereby deleted." GAWD, sounds just plain COLD.
  • LLJB said:

    The biggest issue with the Driehaus fund is the $250K minimum investment/$100K for an IRA but if you're investing that kind of money then I'm also impressed with their approach. Is anyone aware of exceptions being made?

    DRFRX is available on TD Ameritrade for a minimum of $2,000 for an IRA, with no transaction fee. Don't know about regular accounts. Might want to check with other brokerages too.

    MEASX is an interesting option. Almost half of WAFMX is in Asia, if that helps with the comparison.
  • TD1 said:

    Take a look at DRFRX. Short track record, do have an SMA that goes back a bit farther. Driehaus has a very good process and team. Low assets right now. Nice fit.

    Anything more you can say about the Driehaus process? Not too familiar with them.
  • @claimui

    TD Ameritrade requires 100K for an IRA, the same as Fido, Scottrade, and Schwab.

    DRFRX
  • openice said:

    @claimui

    TD Ameritrade requires 100K for an IRA, the same as Fido, Scottrade, and Schwab.

    DRFRX

    TD Ameritrade says on their site that minimums may differ from what you see because they just take the info from Morningstar. I checked with customer service about taxable accounts and the minimum is $10K so I assume this is one of those case where you need an account to see the real minimums or you have to check with them. I also checked with customer service at Fidelity, where I do have an account and the minimums are the standard $250K/$100K IRA. Schwab's public information says the same but I didn't check with customer service.

    Based on the minimums other than at TD Ameritrade they're not trying to bring in a lot of retail money but I almost wonder whether they're waiting for a time that seems better for Frontier Markets and mostly keeping it for their internal purposes and institutional clients in the meantime.
  • @LLJB @claimui

    $2000 in fact for an IRA at TD. Called them early this a.m. and received the answer I posted above, emailed the firm for confirmation and was told $2,000, came back here, saw LLJB addition, did a chat with another TD rep, and was told 2K. 'Enuf said!

    @LLJB I note that you posted in Nov. 14 when news of the fund's registration appeared here. Well, we've come a long way since then with a TD minimum of $2000!

    I have a call in to my contact at Driehaus and will ask about "retail money" and some other items about the fund.

    Best to all.

  • DRFRX is available at TDAmeritrade, taxable account, for $10,000 minimum. This has been the Driehaus practice for as long as I can remember.
  • LLJB said:



    The biggest issue with the Driehaus fund is the $250K minimum investment/$100K for an IRA but if you're investing that kind of money then I'm also impressed with their approach. Is anyone aware of exceptions being made?


    LLJB - What impresses you about their approach? They seem to fly under the radar, so any info you can provide would be very helpful.
    Thanks!
  • I am not very familiar with DRFRX, but its managers are also on the team of DRESX (Driehaus Emerging Markets Small Cap Growth Fund), which MFO profiled here: http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2014/03/driehaus-emerging-markets-small-cap-growth-fund-dresx-march-2014/

    I hold DRESX and it has done remarkably poorly over the past year, even by emerging markets standards. Incidentally, all of the other Driehaus stock funds have extremely high turnover -- over 300% in DRESX's case -- although this information isn't available yet for DRFRX. Just for what it's worth.
  • jaba said:

    LLJB - What impresses you about their approach? They seem to fly under the radar, so any info you can provide would be very helpful.
    Thanks!

    My impression from what I was able to read is that they look at things both bottom up and top down, which I think is a pretty good idea for frontier markets. Although I don't remember anything specific related to the Frontier Markets fund, my understanding with the Emerging Markets Small Cap fund was that they actively tried to hedge market risk. I've looked at their most recent SEC filing and there's no indication they're doing that in the Frontier Markets fund but IIRC they do have the ability based on the prospectus.

    I've read most of what they write about Frontier and Emerging markets for the last few years and in most cases I find the analysis consistent with the things that I believe in. That was one of the reasons I chose WAFMX originally, and I wanted the focus on a growing middle class in many of these countries. I also believe continued structural reforms are necessary and most of what they write suggests they're paying attention to those things both from the macro perspective but also the micro perspective.

    Chad Cleaver has spent most of his investment career working with emerging markets and until the last couple of years had a great record. I don't follow DRESX closely so I'm not sure what happened but I've generally thought pretty highly of him. The high turnover that's normal for the Emerging Markets fund is more of a concern in a taxable account although originally I was hoping to put it in an IRA. That's something that I think bears watching as we start to get the one year data for the fund. I'd also watch the performance allocation. So far they've done okay but I guess part of that is thanks to the cash they've held.


  • claimui said:

    Incidentally, all of the other Driehaus stock funds have extremely high turnover -- over 300% in DRESX's case -- although this information isn't available yet for DRFRX. Just for what it's worth.

    That's bizarre for a firm that claims to do bottom up analysis and is a huge red flag.
  • I'm not sure why that's a huge red flag, it's just in their DNA. Driehaus is more momentum oriented than most managers.
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