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CI Cambridge Canadian Equity Corporate Class
Managed by Brandon Snow of CI’s Cambridge Advisors Team, this Canadian focused equity fund invests in large and mid-sized companies that have a defensive business model, a history of intelligent capital allocation, and a management team whose interests are aligned with the shareholders. The bottom up approach is very active and will increase dramatically in periods of rising volatility, as they use that volatility as a way to better position the portfolio. Performance has been strong, but more impressive is that volatility has been...
read morePIMCO Monthly Income Fund
Since its launch in January 2011, this global bond fund has consistently been one of the top performers, both on an absolute and risk adjusted basis. For the three years ending June 30, it has gained an annualized 13.5%, whichis nearly three times the category average. It has outperformed the index nearly 70% of the time, and has been up when the broader bond market is falling. It is managed using a very active process that incorporates top down elements such as duration management, yield curve positioning and sector mix, with a fundamentally...
read moreDynamic Advantage Bond
ThemainreasonIlikethisfundisitsdefensivepositioning. While I am not expecting that rates will shoot substantially higher in the second half of the year, the reality is that there will be upward pressure on rates sooner than we’d like. And when that happens this is the traditional bond fund you will want to own. It has historically held up better than its peers when the bond markets are falling and remains defensively positioned, indicating that it should do so this time around as well. Yes, you will lag when bond markets are rising, but I...
read moreBrandes Global Opportunities
Launched in June 2012, this go anywhere global equity fund is managed identically to the way that other Brandes funds are. The focus is on companies that are trading at a significant discount to what Brandes believes it is really worth. Additionally, there must be the potential to close that valuation gap and realize price gains within a reasonable period. It has a true go anywhere mandate and can invest in any company of any size, in any industry sector, in any country around the world. Country and sector allocations are the byproduct of...
read moreFranklin U.S. Core Equity Fund
With an 11.2% gain, this concentrated U.S. offering handily outpaced the S&P 500 and the U.S. equity category average in the first half of the year. Managers Brent Loder and Chris Anderson look for financially strong companies with favourable growth potential and sustainable competitive advantages. Their process is a mix of both quantitative and qualitative analysis, with a focus on larger companies. The concentrated portfolio has a growth tilt to it, with tech, financials and healthcare making up the bulk of the fund. Historically it has...
read moreDynamic Aurion Canadian Equity Fund
This is a very actively managed Canadian focused equity fund, run by the team of Craig MacAdam, Robert Decker and Greg Taylor. The investment process is based on the belief that earnings drive long term gains, that markets are cyclical over the medium term, and that short term pricing anomalies exist. The team actively buy and sell companies inaneffort to benefit from their core beliefs. Portfolio turnover isquitehigh, averaging more than 200% for the past five years. While recent performance has been stellar, the longer term numbers are less...
read moreDynamic Diversified Real Asset Fund
With its focus on real assets such as infrastructure, real estate and precious metals, it is not surprising to see that this was the best performing balanced fund in the first half of the year. It is set up like a fund of funds and invests in a mix of Dynamic’s offerings. It is actively managed, and at the end of March had more than three quarters invested in equities. Until recently it has struggled, and has been one of the worst performing balanced funds over the past three years, underperforming the category average by an annualized 7.5%...
read moreSentry Bond Plus
Launched in August 2012, this offering is managed by the highly respected James Dutkiewicz, who before joining Sentry was a key member of CI’s Signature Global Advisors team. The fund is focused on corporate bonds, and at the end of May held 70% in corporates, 13% in cash and the rest in government bonds. Credit quality is high, with 82% in investment grade bonds. The duration is lower than the DEX Bond Universe, meaning it should be less sensitive to movements in interest rates than the broader bond market. While it’s a little too early in...
read moreMiddlefield Groppe Tactical Energy Class
Given the run-up we saw in energy names in the first half of the year, it’s not surprising that an energy fund was one of the best performing funds of the first half of the year. This fund is managed by Robert Lauzon of Middlefield, and Henry Groppe of Texas based oil and gas consulting firm Groppe, Long & Littell. The basic premise of the fund is that global oil production has peaked, thereby supporting strong oil prices over the next several years. They look for low cost operators with strong drilling prospects that have a proven...
read moreTrimark Europlus Fund
Managed by the team of Michael Hatcher and Matt Pedan, this fund is managed in a near identical fashion to other Trimark branded offerings. The managers have built a concentrated portfolio of what they believe to be best in class companies that are based in Europe. Companies they look for are typically leaders in their respective fields, with high defendable barriers to entry, sustainable competitive advantages, good management and strong long-term growth prospects. In addition, the company must be trading at a discount to their estimate of...
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