April 2017 Manager Check-Up

We look at two newly rated funds from RBC and Renaissance Investments.

Anum Siddiqui 7 April, 2017 | 5:00PM
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Anum Siddiqui: Welcome to the Morningstar Manager Check-up. This month we'll be looking at two of our newly-rated funds.

First up, we have Renaissance Global Small-Cap, which is sub-advised by U.S.-based manager Wasatch Advisors. With the help of their deep bench of analysts, co-managers JB Taylor and Ajay Krishnan look for global small and mid-cap stocks which meet their quality growth criteria. To the Wasatch team, this means companies that are not necessarily the fastest growers, but rather companies that they think will double earnings over five years, with sustainable competitive advantages, strong cash flows and superior management teams. While we see many investment managers state a preference for superior management, Wasatch thinks that excellent management teams in the small and mid-cap space are ones that not only have delivered strong financial results in the past, but have ownership stake in the company as well. The fund has a sound investment approach and is led by experienced investors. However, its high management expense ratio of 3.1% makes it one of the most expensive funds in its category. This high price tag ultimately diminishes the fund's chances of future outperformance and drives our assigned rating of Neutral.

Next up, we have RBC Select Portfolios. The series of target risk funds gains its edge through its strong lineup of underlying funds managed by RBC and PH&N Investment teams. The RBC series also benefits from having the firm's top investors contributing to the fund's asset allocation. The fund has fallen short in some areas, however. For instance, the series has expanded the number of underlying funds in its portfolios, diluting some of its best investments. Overall, though, considering its manager lineup and competitive fee, RBC Select Portfolios remains a worthy offering and has a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Bronze.

That's it for this Manager Check-up. For Morningstar.ca, I'm Anum Siddiqui.

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Anum Siddiqui

Anum Siddiqui  Anum Siddiqui is an analyst on Morningstar Canada’s manager research team.

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