Andrew Slimmon, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, discusses the advantages of concentrated portfolios. He emphasizes the importance of truly active funds that differ from their benchmarks. The podcast explores the benefits of focused stock selection, impact of sector diversification, and balancing active management with passive indexing.
Concentrated portfolios focus on owning top-performing stocks while reducing underperformers for potential outperformance.
Factor exposures like value, quality, and momentum are key in determining stock returns and building a diversified portfolio.
Deep dives
Understanding Concentrated Portfolios
A concentrated portfolio consists of a limited number of carefully selected stocks, typically 10 to 20, focused on owning the best performers while eliminating underperforming ones. Being diversified doesn't necessarily mean owning a large number of stocks; instead, it's about holding assets that are not highly correlated. Active share, around 80-90%, is crucial in distinguishing a concentrated portfolio from the index, leading to potential outperformance over time.
Factor Exposures and Performance
Factor exposures like value, quality, and momentum significantly influence stock returns, often determining up to two-thirds of a stock's performance. Managers need to analyze market factors to anticipate future performance trends and reduce correlation risks within a concentrated portfolio. Understanding correlations helps in building a balanced portfolio that leverages different factor exposures for growth.
Balancing Active and Passive Strategies
Combining a concentrated portfolio managed by high active share managers with passive index funds can enhance investment prospects and diversify risk. The key is to avoid low active share positions to truly benefit from active management. Embracing both passive and active strategies strategically can optimize investment outcomes and offer a diversified approach to portfolio management.
Are your expensive active mutual funds and ETFs actually active? Or, as is too often the case, are they only pretending to be active? Do they charge a high active fee but then behave more like an index fund? Andrew Slimmon, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, speaks with Barry Ritholtz about the advantages of concentrated portfolios. If you want to own active funds, then make sure they differ their benchmarks and truly are active.