22
We are adding a world-stock fund, a large-blend fund,
and a long-short fund.
USAA World Growth
USAWX
is a world-stock fund
run by David Mannheim and Roger Morley of
MFS
.
It has earned a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver.
The managers’ strategy is to buy high-quality com-
panies trading at modest valuations. That’s not partic-
ularly novel, but few execute it as well. It has led
to above-average returns with below-average risk.
The fund has returned an annualized
10
.
2%
over
the past
10
years to top
85%
of world-stock funds,
and it has done so with impressive consistency.
The fund hasn’t had calendar-year returns in the bot-
tom quartile since
2005
. The fund charges
1
.
30%
in expenses and has $
920
million in assets.
I’m also adding large-growth fund
Lateef
LIMAX
.
Although it officially carries a load, the fund is
available in some of the biggest No Transaction Fee
platforms without a load.
This
4
-star fund is run by Quoc Tran, James Tarkenton,
and Matt Sauer. Tran worked for Weitz funds for
three years before joining Lateef. Tarkenton and Sauer
worked together at Oak Value fund. Tarkenton then
worked for
RBO
& Co. before joining Lateef in
2008
.
Sauer worked at Ariel until early
2012
when he
joined Lateef.
The managers looks for companies with sustainable
competitive advantages trading at modest prices.
They run a focused portfolio with about
20
stocks. If
they think a company’s growth rate is threatened, the
managers may sell as they did with
Apple
AAPL
in
2012
. They will also sell if a stock has grown so much
that they no longer have sufficient margin of safety.
The fund’s five-year returns are
10
.
4%
, placing it in
the top decile of the large-growth category. The fund
has $
700
million in assets and charges
1
.
24%
.
Our third addition is Silver-rated
Wasatch Long/
Short
FMLSX
. The fund is run by Ralph Shive and
Michael Shinnick, who also run
Wasatch Large Cap
Value
FMIEX
.
The fund is usually net long in the range of
30%
–
90%
featuring about
55
long positions and
15
shorts. They
combine fundamental, macro, and technical analysis
to build their portfolio. Although they tend to short
high-valuation names like
Starbucks
SBUX
, they will
also go long on growth names, as evidenced by Apple.
See the facing page for more details.
Three Go Out
To make room, we are dropping three funds in
redemptions.
Litman Gregory Masters Focused
Opportunities
MSFOX
is a decent fund, but
with assets at just $
66
million, we are dropping it
from coverage.
Janus Global Select
JORNX
is rated Neutral as
the fund has become more bland under George Maris.
It is also on the way out.
Columbia Value and Restructuring
UMBIX
has
been turned into a clone of
Columbia Contrarian
Core
LCCAX
, so it’s redundant and may be merged
into the former fund.
œ
Summary of Changes
Add
Drop
Lateef
Columbia Value and Restructuring
USAA World Growth
Janus Global Select
Wasatch Long/Short
Litman Gregory Masters Focused Opp
USAA World Growth Joins the 500
Changes to the 500
|
Russel Kinnel
What is Morningstar
FundInvestor
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?
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500
features the industry’s
best and most notable funds.
Use the list to get new
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