Hennessy Funds Outperform With Active Management

More than 70% of actively managed U.S. stock funds lagged their benchmarks over the five years ended June 30, according to the S&P Dow Jones Indices Versus Active (SPIVA) U.S. scorecard.

Hennessy Funds were an exception. Over those five years, nearly 70% of Hennessy’s funds beat their benchmark on an annualized basis.

The SPIVA U.S. scorecard measures performance of actively managed funds against their relevant S&P index in the stock market.

“The past five years (through June 30) have been marked by the rare combination of a remarkable rebound in domestic equity markets and a low-volatility equity environment,” Aye Soe, senior director, Index Research & Design, S&P Dow Jones Indices, wrote in the SPIVA report. Soe added, “This combination has proven difficult for domestic equity managers… across all capitalization and style categories.”

Among U.S. equity funds, 60% of large-cap, 58% of midcap and 73% of small-cap managers underperformed their benchmarks, according to SPIVA.

Managers of international equity fared worse. About 70% of global equity funds, 75% of foreign equity funds, 81% of foreign small-cap funds and 65% of emerging market funds lagged their benchmarks.

Yet of Hennessy Advisors’ 16 funds, which run $5.7 billion, six outperformed their indices for the 12 months ended June 30.

On a five-year annualized basis, 11 funds beat their benchmarks net of fees. Six of the 11 turned over their portfolios just once a year.

“It’s not timing the market, it’s your time in the market,” said Neil Hennessy, the firm’s president, chairman and chief investment officer. “We buy the stocks with a highly disciplined formula, and we hold for a year with no emotions. Then we do it again.”

The two best performers are Hennessy Japan Fund and Hennessy Japan Small Cap Fund.

Over the 12 months that ended June 30, the small-cap fund gained 28.68% vs. the Russell/Nomura Small Cap Index’s 17.21%, says Morningstar. Over the past five years, the fund’s annualized return of 15.13% beat the index’s 9.87% .

The Japan Fund’s 17.54% gain over the past year beat the Russell/Nomura Total Market Index’s 10.86% gain. The fund’s 14.40% five-year average annual return topped the index’s 7.48%.

Among U.S. equity funds, Hennessy Cornerstone Mid Cap 30 gained the most over the 12-month period. Its 31.95% outperformed the Russell MidCap Index’s 26.85%. On a five-year annualized basis, the fund returned 22.32%, beating the index’s 22.07%.

Hennessy Cornerstone Large Growth rose 29.35% over the 12 months ended June 30, exceeding the Russell 1000 Index’s 25.35%. Its five-year average annual return of 19.48% beat the index’s 19.25%.
Hennessy’s best funds over the five years held bonds and stocks. Hennessy Total Return Fund, at 75% equity and 25% bonds, beat the 75/25 Blended DJIA/Treasury Index 15.19% vs. 13.41% on an annualized basis.

Hennessy Core Bond’s 5.42% return outpaced the Barclays U.S. Government/Credit Intermediate Index’s 4.09%.

As for volatility, over the past five years each outperformer beat its bogey four years; the Mid Cap 30 outperformed just three years.

For the full story go to Investor’s Business Daily.

Advertisement

Hennessy: “I Hope We Go Over Fiscal Cliff”

Neil Hennessy doesn’t just think the U.S. will go over the fiscal cliff; he wants it to happen.

“I hope we go over,” said the Hennessy Funds’ all-around top dog about the fiscal cliff, the name given to the end-of-the year budget changes. On Jan. 1, spending reductions across the entire federal budget will kick in automatically the same day the Bush tax cuts expire. “I guarantee that within six months, Washington will get the tax situation right and the country should be on surer footing. But, within the next 30 days it’s unlikely they would get it right.”

Hennessy presented his 5th annual market outlook, as well as portfolio changes and the renaming of his flagship mutual fund at a New York press conference last Tuesday. Investors are incredibly nervous, said the chairman and chief investment officer of the Novato, Calif., fund house, because there is a crisis of clarity. He pointed to the August consumer confidence level, which hit its lowest point since March 2009, the month the market hit bottom during the fiscal crisis. While the presidential election cleared up the uncertainty over healthcare reform, the fiscal cliff will give us clarity on taxes and regulation, said Hennessy.

From 2008 through 2011, investors have pulled $404 billion out of U.S. equity mutual funds, while putting $775 billion into fixed-income funds. The trend continued into 2012 with equity funds seeing outflows of $116 billion vs. bond fund inflows of $278 billion.

However, Hennessy says equities are the only logical place to be in light of corporate profits near their all-time high. Investors have few other places to go, he said dismissing the real estate sector, the European Union and emerging markets. Meanwhile, bonds are not much of an option with the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond falling to 1.68% from 2.13% a year ago. Meanwhile, the yield on the “Dogs of the Dow,” the 10 highest yielding stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average is 4.13%, or 146% higher than the 10-year bond. The current yield on the full Dow Industrials is 2.67%.

In October, Hennessy Funds acquired all ten FBR Funds and merged them into existing funds. This brings the total assets under management at Hennessy Funds to $3.1 billion and total shareholders to about 180,000. The Hennessy Focus 30 Fund after merging with the FBR Mid Cap Fund was renamed the Hennessy Cornerstone Mid Cap 30.

Based on a rebound in the housing market and consumers spending more on their homes, the fund’s year-end portfolio rebalancing pushed consumer discretionary up to 40% of the assets from 30% a year ago. Industrials jumped from 13% to 30%, while Utilities fell from 30% of assets to 0%. The fund also had no assets in information technology or consumer staples. The fund’s top consumer picks are Pier 1 (PIR), Whirlpool (WHR) and Mohawk Industries (MHK). Industrials. In the housing sector he likes Standard Pacific (SPF), KB Homes (KBH), and Meritage Homes(MTH), as well as building products companies: USG (USG), Masco (MAS) and A.O. Smith (AOS).