Jonathan Miller: Welcome to the Morningstar manager check up for the latest updates from our fund research team.
Threadneedle Managed Equity & Bond is run by two of Columbia Threadneedle’s senior managers: Mark Burgess, the CIO, and Alex Lyle, who’s managed the fund since April 2008. The managers position the portfolio relative to the IA Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares sector, taking into account views of the asset-allocation committee, which they both sit on, and then selecting funds from the group’s entire range.
The top holdings are currently in the Threadneedle Global Bond fund, followed by Threadneedle European and then nearly 10% in a cash fund. We like that the fund captures the group’s strong asset-allocation capability and the best of its managers in one competitively priced offering. This has served investors well over Burgess and Lyle’s tenure and the fund has outperformed in seven of the last 10 full calendar years. It therefore retains its Morningstar Analyst Rating of Bronze.
The PIMCO GIS Diversified Income fund saw long-time manager Curtis Mewbourne retire in September 2016. At that point CIO Dan Ivascyn and mortgage specialist Alfred Murata were added as comanagers, sitting alongside long-time team member Eve Tournier and Sonali Pier. They’ve been impressive, at the helm of a fund which is designed to deliver PIMCO’s best ideas for global credit exposure using the firm’s strong resources, research and process. There are a lot of moving parts here, with investment-grade, high-yield, and emerging-markets exposure, mixed with short-dated paper, bank loans and securitised debt. Returns have been volatile but top-notch in the category. Taking the number of positives together, the fund holds a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver.
Jupiter UK Special Situations has been managed by Ben Whitmore since November 2006, when he joined Jupiter from Schroders. He applies the same investment approach that he first developed at Schroders in the late 1990s, which is a contrarian and value-orientated investment philosophy. He first uses quantitative screens to identify longer-term valuation anomalies, based on an attractive P/E ratio relative to 10-year average earnings.
After further screening, qualifying stocks are then subject to fundamental analysis before being added to the portfolio. Whitmore has continually shown the courage of his convictions in constructing the portfolio, which can look quite different from the benchmark at the sector and market-cap levels. We see this as a compelling offering for investors looking for a value-biased UK fund and we’ve reaffirmed its Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver.
