We have some exciting news to report.
We are always looking for better ways to improve the efficiency and performance of our investment portfolios. Our research efforts include not only looking for more skillful managers and funds but also redesigning portfolio allocations to make them more efficient and thereby to improve expected returns over time.
That’s why we are replacing our Dimensional Fund Advisor (DFA) Small Cap Value funds with those from another company called Avantis Investors. The DFA funds have always had a strong tilt toward stocks that are smaller in size and cheaper in valuation. The new Avantis funds take advantage of new research authored by Professor Robert Novy-Marx of the Simon Business School, University of Rochester.#1 Avantis Investors will now give our portfolios a tilt that combines both value and profitability, which evidence shows should provide higher expected returns over the entire business cycle.
Although still a relatively new company, many of the leaders of Avantis have years of experience previously working for Dimensional Fund Advisors. Both the Chief Investment Officer Eduardo Repetto and the Chief Operating Officer Pat Keating have a combined experience of over 35 years in designing and implementing funds at Dimensional. We have completed our due diligence review of these funds, including a conference call with Eduardo.
I want to emphasize that our investment philosophy has not changed one iota! We are focused on refining and improving our portfolios in order to keep up with the latest research and technological advancements as they become available.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions along the way. And we all thank you for your support and confidence in us.
1: Novy-Marx, Robert, The Other Side of Value: Good Growth and the Gross Profitability Premium (April 2010). NBER Working Paper No. w15940. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1598056
