Schroders Brookes: 3 Funds to Weather a Downturn

Investors should be wary of defensive stocks and fixed income which have experienced a significant rally, says Marcus Brookes, head of multi-manager for Schroders

Emma Wall 7 June, 2016 | 3:07PM
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Emma Wall: Hello, and welcome to Morningstar. I'm Emma Wall and I'm joined today by Marcus Brookes, Head of Multi-Manager for Schroders, to give his three fund picks.

Hello, Marcus.

Marcus Brookes: Hi.

Wall: So, what's the first fund you'd like to highlight today?

Brookes: Well, I'd like to highlight the Fixed Income Fund. It's an area that we're being pretty bearish on for some time. But I do find, if you can get the right manager with a right flexibility, that can really navigate some pretty tricky markets.

So, our favorite one is the JPMorgan Income Opportunity Plus Fund managed by Bill Eigen from Boston. Now, this fund can invest in any fixed income asset. It could actually be all cash. So, as I think, we're coming towards the end of a pretty decent 30-year bull market in fixed income, you need that flexibility, I think, to navigate you through these tricky times.

Wall: What's the second fund?

Brookes: Well, I'd like to go for an equity fund. In this case, I'm going to go for the Investec Special Situations Fund managed by Alastair Mundy. With the Brexit stuff going on, not many people are that interested in U.K. and I would suspect quite a few people have been pretty defensively positioned, but here is a value manager who is really well-positioned, I think, for what could be resurgence in value type stocks.

Wall: And you mentioned Brexit there. I suppose the risk is, if we do leave the EU, how sensitive are those stocks to that eventuality?

Brookes: Well, it's a U.K. fund, basically a name. When you look at the underlying stocks, it tends to be mining and energy names. There are some domestic names as well, but there is enough foreign currency earnings, I think, to get through them.

Wall: And what's the third and final fund?

Brookes: Well, as diversity invests in alternative funds, I thought I'll choose one of those. So our favorite fund there would be the Majedie Tortoise Fund. It's a relatively unusual name, I would appreciate, but it stems from a family office based on a rubber plantation in Malaysia. Now the family put together an investment management company. Matt Smith runs a long-short equity product.

It's mostly market neutral, not always, can be quite directional. And again, if we go into to choppy markets, I think you need to be able to make money from both sides of the balance sheet, not only being long, owning shares, but also shorting some things as they fall.

Wall: And that is extremely difficult to do. A lot of fund managers come a cropper when they try to short that end up exacerbating loses. But this presumably has a track record that shows they can do it throughout market cycles.

Brookes: Yeah, here is a guy who made 10% in the Great Financial Crisis. I mean, if you need someone towards the end of a cycle who can make money on both sides of balance sheet, I think Matt has got a great opportunity to do that.

Wall: Marcus, thank you very much.

Brookes: You're welcome.

Wall: This is Emma Wall for Morningstar. Thank you for watching.

The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell a security or securities noted within nor should it be viewed as a communication intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. The information contained within should not be a person's sole basis for making an investment decision. Please contact your financial professional before making an investment decision.

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security NamePriceChange (%)Morningstar
Rating
JPM Income Opp C perf (acc) USD215.77 USD-0.41Rating
Liontrust Tortoise C  
Ninety One UK Special Situations R Acc221.52 GBP-1.24Rating
Schroder MM Diversity A Acc1.38 GBP0.00Rating

About Author

Emma Wall  is former Senior International Editor for Morningstar

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