| Monthly Message | |
|
January was a strong month for the major market indices. The S&P 500 was up 4.5%, the DJIA up 3.6%, the NASDAQ up 8.0%, the S&P/TSX up 4.4%, while the BMO Small Cap Index was up 8.2%. The Wutherich & Co. Composite was up 1.9% during the month. Gains in Canadian large cap stocks were lead by the Materials and Information Technology sectors. A similar pattern played out in Canadian small cap stocks though with much larger gains posted by these sectors. For both large and small caps, some of the best performances during the month came from those issues that suffered the largest losses during 2011. It seems investors were hell bent on making money back the same way they lost it in the first place. We have seen this pattern before where a group of stocks suffers severe losses only to come back dramatically in subsequent periods and then to lose much of these gains in later years. We don’t play this game at all. We continue to produce solid long-term returns which have a low correlation to, and less volatility than, our benchmarks. We may miss some of the wild upswings in the market but we have also avoided the worst of the drops. There is no question that the world faces serious challenges and we won’t avoid the effects of a global economic slow-down. We do, however, think that most of our companies are well equipped to survive and even thrive in this environment. |
|
|
The following table illustrates the performance of the Wutherich & Co. Composite to the present: |
|
|
(unaudited, since Sep.30/01)*
|
| Month | 1YR | 3YR | 5YR | 10YR | Inception | |
| Wutherich & Co. |
1.9% |
12.9% | 16.7% | 7.5% | 12.0% | 15.1% |
| BMOSCI-wtd | 8.2% | -7.1% | 30.0% | 3.7% | 10.4% | 12.1% |
| S&P/TSX | 4.4% | -5.6% | 16.0% | 1.9% | 7.5% | 8.5% |
| Wutherich & Co. Factsheet | |
| Company Objective | |
| Our goal is to seek prosperity for our clients through participation in stable, growing companies in North America, led by strong management teams that we consider our partners for the next five or more years. | |
| Investment Philosophy | |
| Our style can be described as concentrated, disciplined, long-term growth stock investing. The focus is on established companies that generally have a demonstrated track record in revenue, cash flow or earnings per share growth, with strong managements and solid balance sheets. The current emphasis in the portfolio is on the equity of small to medium capitalization companies, defined roughly as $50 million to $5 billion in market capitalization. The portfolio may include large capitalization companies if the right elements are there. Stocks are bought with a keen eye to valuation, so you’re not likely to find many high multiple stocks here. The portfolio will likely maintain a significant percentage in foreign securities, providing exposure to investment returns outside of Canada. | |
| Portfolio Composition (as a percentage of net assets) | ||
| Canadian Stocks | 70.04% | |
 |
Energy | 12.31% |
|
Financials | 0% |
|
Information Technology | 0% |
|
Communications and Media | 4.93% |
|
Consumer | 10.01% |
|
Healthcare | 6.55% |
|
Industrials | 22.77% |
|
Materials | 4.70% |
|
Telecom | 0% |
|
Transportation | 8.78% |
|
Utilities | 0% |
| U.S. Stocks | 17.87% | |
|
Communication Services | 7.26% |
|
Energy | 4.96% |
|
Specialty Retailers | 5.65% |
| Cash and Others | 12.09% | |
| Performance | ||||||||||
| (unaudited, the growth of $100,000 invested as at Sep. 30/01)* | ||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
| Your account with us | ||||||||||
| Wutherich & Company is an independent investment counsellor. We do not hold assets for our clients, but simply exercise trades over your account as per an agreed upon investment policy statement and portfolio management agreement. Your account is held at TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. in your name. Withdrawals from that account can only be sent to you at your designated bank account and/or address of record. Wutherich & Co. may also do withdrawals from your account to satisfy any fees that may apply to your account. All accounts are cash accounts. Unlike hedge funds, we do not use leverage or derivatives to manage your money. Also, we are not a fund company – if you are a private investor with us, your account will mirror the Model Portfolio but your investments are not pooled. | ||||||||||
| Other Facts | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
*The Wutherich & Co. performance shown here is of a composite which combines the performance of all of the accounts managed by Wutherich & Co. that have been invested according to the Wutherich & Co. Portfolio throughout their history. These accounts vary greatly in the size of assets that they contain and whether or not fees have been deducted directly from the accounts during their history. BMOSCI-wtd = BMO Small Cap Index, Total Return, weighted. This index is currently the most comparable to the Wutherich & Co. portfolio due to its average market capitalization, though it may differ greatly in its sector weightings; TSX = S&P/TSX Total Return Index. Due to its large capitalization nature and substantially different sector weightings, this index may not be considered comparable to the Wutherich & Co. Portfolio. |
||||||||||
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
