Below are a few of our recent fund updates. Log in or subscribe to see all of them.
First Asset REIT Income Fund
While the Fidelity offering above has the biggest emphasis on large caps, this fund is the most focused on small cap names. The average market cap of the companies and REITs in this fund is significantly lower than any of the other funds on the list. The focus is predominantly Canada, but it can invest up 30% abroad. At the end of March, it held about 10% in the U.S. Launched in late 2010, performance was impressive in 2011 and 2012, but underperformed in 2013 and so far this year. Given the relatively small level of assets, and...
read moreFidelity Global Real Estate Fund
Of the other real estate funds I have reviewed this month, there are two things that differentiate it. First, it is the most globally diversified, with less than 5% invested in Canada. The manager, Steve Buller, tends to keep his country allocations within a pretty tight range. Second, it is also the most large cap focused fund discussed, with a market cap well in excess of the others. Performance has been decent, but it has been more volatile than the others. This would be my pick if you were looking for non-Canadian real estate...
read moreDynamic Global Real Estate Fund
As the name suggests, this fund is very global in nature, with nearly two-thirds invested abroad. It is managed by Oscar Belaiche and Tom Dicker using their “Quality at a Reasonable Price” approach that looks for real estate companies and REITs that have strong balance sheets, and excellent management teams with “skin in the game”. The portfolio is diversified, holding more than 50 names, with the top ten making up about a third of the fund. Performance, particularly on a risk adjusted basis, has been strong. Given the global reach of the...
read moreCI Global Health Sciences Corporate Class
After a heck of a run, the fund has been selling off in the past month or so. If you have held this fund for a while and haven’t taken profits recently, I would strongly urge you to do so, as valuations have certainly become very rich. I expect that we will see more downside in the coming weeks. By taking some money off the table, you can help protect some of the gains you’ve seen in the past several months. Longer term, I still like the healthcare story. As the populations in the developed world continue to age, the demand on healthcare...
read moreBrandes Global Small Cap Fund
This deep value offering from Brandes had a very strong quarter, gaining nearly 9%, outpacing both the index and its peer group. The management team follows a very disciplined and repeatable process that looks to buy companies that are trading a significant discounts to their true value. While this process may result in periods of underperformance, over the long-term, I expect it can to deliver strong returns for investors. On the surface it appears to be more volatile than its peers, with a standard deviation that is considerably higher than...
read moreTrimark U.S. Companies Fund
This is a concentrated portfolio of attractively priced U.S. companies that have distinct proprietary advantages, strong management, industry leadership and a history of strong capital allocation policies. During the first quarter, it gained more than 6.9%, handily outpacing the S&P 500 and most of its peer group. The main reason it outperformed were its technology and financial holdings, which posted strong gains. The fund’s currency exposure remains unhedged, which helped to boost the overall performance. Looking ahead, the managers...
read moreCI Signature Select Canadian Fund
This was the top performing Canadian equity fund in the first quarter, with a gain of 4.97%, outpacing both the category average and the S&P/TSX Composite Index. It has about half the fund invested outside of Canada, which helped boost performance, thanks in part to a falling Canadian dollar. It is fairly defensively positioned, underweight materials and energy, and overweight more defensive sectors like healthcare and consumer defensives. A recent selloff in healthcare may weigh on returns in the next few weeks. Looking ahead, I expect...
read moreDynamic Advantage Bond Fund
With the potential for the interest rate environment to once again become rather choppy, this fund, with its actively managed portfolio, and duration management strategy remains my top pick. I would expect that it will lag during a bond market rally, but will outperform during periods of higher than normal bond market volatility.
read moreTD Short Term Bond Fund
As the name suggests, it invests in a mix of government and corporate bonds that have a term to maturity of less than five years. The current mix favours corporate bonds, which make up nearly 60% of the fund. It has a duration of 2.7 years which is considerably shorter than a traditional bond fund, which would be in the ballpark of 6.8 years. It pays a variable monthly distribution that has yielded approximately 1.6% in the past 12 months. While there is the risk it will experience a loss when short term yields move higher, I still expect...
read moreCundill Canadian Security Fund
Fund Company Mackenzie Investments Fund Type Canadian Focused Equity Rating B Style Value Risk Level Medium High Load Status Optional RRSP/RRIF Suitability Good TFSA Suitability Good Manager Lawrence Chin since April 2009 MER 2.54% Code MFC 738 – Front End Units MFC 838 – DSC Units Minimum Investment $500 Analysis: The Cundill Funds have long had a reputation as being contrarian, concentrated deep value funds, and this Canadian focused offering is no different. Using a bottom up, team driven approach, they conduct extensive fundamental...
read more