MultiSearch Watchlists Temporarily Down

Dear MFO Premium Subscribers.

We apologize, but the Watchlists feature in our main MultiSearch tool will be down temporarily until we transition to the new user portal. The traditional login/account page will also be temporarily disabled (shhh…).

Our web host performed a server upgrade last night that took us off-line for about an hour, but worse, the upgrade adversely affected (aka “whacked”) our current user portal, which in turn impacted MultiSearch, ScoreCard, Averages, and Login.

Will be sending email around once we transition to new portal shortly, which will greatly improve user ability to set re-passwords, extend subscriptions, and the enhance overall use of the site.

It will be rolled-out along with several other improvements targeted at site responsiveness.

We will be extending all subscriptions by two months for the inconvenience this transition may cause.

Thanks, as always, to the good folks that alerted us to the issues this morning.

MFO Ratings Updated Through June 2019

All fund risk and return metrics, ratings, and analytics have been uploaded, reflecting performance through June 2019.

Some highlights:

  • markets rebounded in June, S&P 500 up 7.0% and 18.5% year-to-date (YTD); in fact, S&P 500 is up 14.7% annualized the past 10 years, helping make-up for previous lost decade … core bonds also up 6.1% YTD
  • the following funds have smaller assets under management ($250M or less), dual MFO Great Owl and Honor Roll designations, and delivered 20-30% YTD: DF Dent Premier Growth (DFDPX), DF Dent MidCap Growth Inv (DFDMX), YCG Enhanced R (YCGEX), Wasatch Global Opportunities Inv (WAGOX), which Robert Gardiner once managed, and Sarofim Equity (SRFMX), which David profiled in 2014
  • Hodges Capital of Dallas, TX remains in the bottom quintile of MFO’s Fund Family Scorecard … 4 of 5 Hodges’ funds are on MFO’s Three Alarm list
  • added 6, 8, and 9-yr evaluation periods to MultiSearch, bringing total to 42

Plus, encore reminder that we will be introducing a new user portal, which will make it easier for users to subscribe (including corporate accounts with up to 10 users), renew/extend, and reset passwords. It should roll-out this month. Once live, we will be stopping the auto-renewal feature, which we believe has become a presumptive practice.

As always, if you see anything amiss or have suggestions for improvement, let us know and we will respond soonest.

Please enjoy the latest data.

Barron’s Best Mutual Funds You’ve Never Heard Of

Recently, I subscribed to Barron’s, thanks to recommendations from folks on MFO Discussion Board.

Here’s link to sweet piece by Daren Fonda, entitled “The Best Mutual Funds You’ve Never Heard Of.”

The five funds are: Bernzott US Small Cap Value (BSCVX), DF Dent Premier Growth (DFDPX), Conestoga SMid Cap Inv (CCSMX), YCG Enhanced R (YCGEX), and Homestead Value (HOVLX).

Four are MFO Honor Roll funds, two are MFO Great Owls.

Here’s how they look in MultiSearch, launch through May 2019:

Fairholme Rebounding

As this decade comes to a close, legendary investor Bruce Berkowitz appears to be getting things right again. After making ill-timed bets on bank in 2011 and ill-advised bets on Edward Lambert and Sears in the years since, Fairholme is enjoying a resurgence. Much of the turnaround likely do to his speculation in Fannie and Freddie, which have tripled this year. (Story in WSJ today about regulators pressing to turn Fannie and Freddie private again.) Below are the YTD risk and performance numbers of his three funds: FAIRX, FOCIX, and FAAFX. Today’s AUM of $1.4B is perhaps 5% of its peak, when Mr. Berkowitz won Morningstar’s Fund Manager of the Decade in 2010.

The 25-Largest Funds

The 25-largest fund by AUM as of 31 May 2019, shown below along with YTD performance. The top 3 spots are Vanguard, as are 10 of the 25. What were the top 20 in 1999? See post here on Twitter by Morningstar’s Ben Johnson.

MFO Ratings Updated Through May 2019

All fund risk and return metrics, ratings, and analytics have been uploaded, reflecting performance through May 2019.

Some highlights:

  • all 11 sector ETFs retracted in May, most between 7 and 11%, but gains remain strong year-to-date … all positive, most between 7 and 16%
  • 7 of 17 Timothy Plan funds on MFO’s Three Alarm list
  • Dreyfus fund family rebranded to BNY Mellon
  • added 4-year evaluation period to MultiSearch (thank you David)
  • Lipper added several new fund categories, including Emerging Markets Mixed Asset, Frontier Markets, Global High Yield, Short High Yield, Absolute Return Bond, and Real Return … see Definitions/Categories

As always, if you see anything amiss or have suggestions for improvement, let us know and we will respond soonest.

Please enjoy the latest data.

MFO Premium Site Webinar Charts & Video – Wednesday, 15 May 2019

We enjoyed our best webinar day yet with about 50 participants.

I actually wore a tie (ha!) and displayed our new MFO Coffee Mug (thank you David) to mark the progress we’ve made on the site.

Can’t thank you enough for your continued support!

Please find link to charts here.

Please find link to conference video here.

Please feel free to reach-out at any time with questions and suggestions via email (charles@mutualfundobserver.com). We can even schedule a Zoom teleconference at your convenience.

AQR Fund Family Performance Sagging

Latest MFO Fund Family Scorecard gives AQR a “Lower” grade. Of AQR’s 39 funds, 26 trail their peers since launch through April 2019 based on absolute return.

Continue reading “AQR Fund Family Performance Sagging”

MFO Premium Site Webinar Charts & Video – Tuesday, 15 January 2019

Thank you all for attending!

Please find link to charts here.

Please find link to conference video here.

And, below is Brad’s beautiful big picture view … he was awesome!

Register for Webinar – 15 January 2019

As highlighted in this month’s commentary, we have two sessions planned, one hour each nominally, on Tuesday 15 January 2019 at 2pm and 5pm eastern … 11am and 2 pm pacific.

Like last time, we will employ easy-to-use the Zoom web conferencing tool.

Brad Ferguson of Halter Ferguson Financial will highlight how he uses the premium site to find funds that best match his clients needs … and “the next Robert Gardiner.”

We’ll also discuss latest upgrades, including a lightning fast, highly addictive MultiSearch tool … should load today!

If you’ve not already done so, please register here for first session.

Or, here for second session.

Thank you!