Cambiar Investors LLC—Cambiar Aggressive Value Fund
Q1 2008 Market Commentary
The first quarter of 2008 was a challenging environment for many markets around the world. U.S. equities incurred one of their worst quarterly declines since 2002, marked by a continued deleveraging of the credit bubble that began to unravel in the second half of 2007. In Europe, the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 declined 16% for the quarter, its worst start to a year since 1987. Asian markets were similarly impacted, with slowing overseas sales contributing to the decelerating momentum to the equity markets in that region.
While the Cambiar Aggressive Value Fund was unable to escape the downward pressure, the Fund was able to protect capital relative to the benchmark. For the quarter, the Fund posted a return of -5.4%, which was over 400 basis points ahead of the Russell 3000 Index. Performance was driven by strong stock selection across multiple sectors of the Fund.
An overweight allocation and strong stock selection within Energy resulted in this sector being the top contributor to performance for the quarter. The Fund’s holdings are diversified across numerous sub-sectors (e.g. larger integrates, exploration & production, energy services) within the sector, and are positioned for continued success even through the slowdown.
The Fund’s Industrial holdings were another positive contributor for the Fund. Led by holdings such as Noble Group and Heidrick & Struggles, the Fund’s Industrial holdings produced an aggregate return of 8.5%, vs. -5.4% for the index.
Despite ongoing concerns regarding the strength of the consumer, Cambiar’s exposure within the Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staples sectors were additional value-adds to performance. Our holdings within this sector are tilted towards companies that should continue to meet earnings expectations, regardless of the current economic climate. Valuation sensitivity at the point of purchase was also instrumental in providing additional downside protection in this environment.
One area of the Fund that did not perform as well during the quarter was the Technology sector. The sell-off in the sector was primarily based on the concern that a global economic slowdown would inhibit the growth prospects for Tech companies – as was the case in the 2001-2002 timeframe. While Cambiar’s higher Tech exposure detracted from performance over the short-term, we continue to believe that Technology will be one of few areas of the market capable of generating solid earnings growth. In addition, many of the Fund’s holdings in this space are trading at trough valuations – resulting in a very attractive upside/downside tradeoff.
Financial holdings were absent from the portfolio for the quarter, primarily due to the anticipation of additional write-downs and declining profits for many of these companies. At some point, the risk/reward profile for Financials will be too compelling to ignore – however, at this point, we anticipate there to be more downward revisions to earnings and unknown risks for many companies in this space.
The Fund continues to have little or no exposure within the Health Care, Utilities and Telecommunications sectors; our view is that the majority of companies in these sectors are trading at peak valuations, and thereby do not offer attractive investment opportunities relative to other sectors of the market.
Cambiar remains of the opinion that global markets have entered a period of slowdown; despite this rather tepid outlook, the investment team continues to be successful in identifying attractive investment opportunities around the globe. For a patient investor such as Cambiar, these investment candidates have the potential to deliver attractive returns for the Fund over the next 1-2 years.
This material represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific point in time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events, or a guarantee of future results. This information should not be relied upon by the reader as research or investment advice.
As of 3/31/08, the monthly performance of the Fund was: 1 month: -2.14%; 3 month: -5.41%: since inception (8/31/07) -3.78%. Expense ratios are: 2.42% (gross); 1.50% (net). The performance quoted represents past performance and the investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than the original cost, and current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted. For performance data current to the most recent month-end, please call 1-866-777-8227 or visit our website at www.cambiar.com. Holdings are subject to change. Weightings as of 3/31/08 are: Noble Group (6.65%) and Heidrich & Struggles (2.37%).
The Russell 3000® Index measures the performance of approximately 98% of the U.S. equity market.
