AGF Global Real Estate Equity

Posted by on Aug 4, 2007 in Mutual Fund Updates | 0 comments

Fund Company AGF Investments Inc.
Fund Type                     Real Estate Equity
Rating $$
Style Value Growth Blend
Risk Level Medium
Load Status Optional
RRSP/RRIF Suitability  
TFSA Suitability  
Manager Steve Way since June 1998
MER 3.15%
Code AGF 216 – Front End Units

AGF 916 – DSC Units

AGF 269 – Low Load Units

Minimum Investment $500

 

Analysis:  Manager Steve Way’s primary focus here is country. He looks first for nations where the real estate market prospects are good and then uses a blend of value and growth to select individual stocks. Europe was his favourite stomping ground in the first half of 2007, with 42.6% of the portfolio invested in that continent. By contrast, North America, which dominated the portfolio a few years ago, had a weighting of only 23.1% as of June 30/07. The fund had a very large cash position of almost 19% at that time, although that was down from 28% earlier in the year. The fund started slowly, with small losses in its first two years after the 1998 launch. However, it has been impressive in recent years and never lost money over a calendar year during the bear market. It enjoyed its best year ever in 2006 with an eye-opening 42.8% advance but the bottom fell out in the first half of 2007. The fund dropped more than 10% as rising interest rates and concerns about the sub-prime mortgage market in the U.S. hit real estate stocks hard. Since we probably have not seen the end of that debacle yet, you may want to stand clear for now. Investors who are sitting on large profits thanks to the 2006 jump may wish to take some of that money off the table.

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