Cambiar Investors LLC – Cambiar International Equity Fund (CAMIX)
1st Quarter 2008 Market Commentary
For the first quarter of 2008, the ripple effects of a possible U.S. recession continued to apply pressure across all global markets. In Europe, the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index continued a decline that began in the fourth quarter of 2007. The index closed the first quarter with a -16% return, its worst start since 1987. The Asian markets were similarly impacted, with slowing overseas sales and the worst snowstorm to hit mainland China in over 50 years contributing to the decelerating momentum to many of the markets in that region. On an aggregate basis, global markets lost over $3.9 trillion in value since the beginning of 2008.
The Cambiar International Equity Fund was not immune to the broad sell-off, and subsequently underperformed the MSCI EAFE Index for the first time in the past four quarters. Although the Fund achieved strong security selection in the Materials and Financials sectors, these bright spots were not enough to offset the underperformance sustained in other sectors of the portfolio. Performance for the Fund was also negatively impacted by exposure to Emerging Markets, which declined to a greater magnitude relative to developed markets.
At the sector level, Technology led all decliners in the quarter. 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. Tech issues currently represent the largest exposure in the Fund, as well as the largest active overweight relative to the EAFE. Not surprisingly, Tech was the largest detractor from performance for the quarter. Despite the current negative sentiment facing Tech companies, we continue to maintain a positive longer-term outlook for our holdings, and believe that this sector continues to offer solid growth prospects over the next 1-2 years.
Basic Materials exposure provided the strongest performance for the quarter. Positive returns from a number of holdings, as well as the active decision to maintain an overweight allocation to this top-performing sector, resulted in Materials being the largest positive contributor for the quarter. While cognizant that this sector has the potential for a higher degree of volatility based on price movements of the underlying commodities, we believe that our Materials holdings should continue to maintain an upward trajectory, based on our long-term fundamental outlook.
Strong stock selection within the battered Financial sector was an additional positive contributor for the Fund in the quarter. Upside earnings surprises from bank holdings in Japan and Singapore led to the positive performance in this sector. In aggregate, it is Cambiar’s view that the continued deleveraging of the credit markets will likely result in additional write-downs and earnings shortfalls for companies in this sector; as such, we continue remain underweight, having allocated capital to other areas of the market that possess more attractive risk/reward profiles.
The Fund was also negatively impacted by its holdings within Industrials and Consumer Discretionary, where Cambiar’s holdings underperformed the benchmark. The Fund’s minimal Healthcare exposure had a neutral impact on return, while strong stock selection in Telecom Services resulted in relative outperformance for the quarter.
The Fund maintained a healthy exposure to Emerging Markets as this segment of the International community continued to present intriguing opportunities.
As stated in our previous commentary, the price dislocations and valuation anomalies that are more prevalent in the international markets should continue to present unique investment opportunities for the Fund. Even in a market environment that is rife with doubt and uncertainty, the Cambiar investment team has a strong pipeline of companies that possess the necessary combination of attractive valuation, tangible catalysts and material upside potential.
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 annualized performance of the Fund was: 1 year: 2.60%, 3 year: 12.62%, 5 year: 22.32%, 10 year: 11.86%, and since inception (8/31/97): 12.01%. 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 their 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 3.31.2008 are: Target (3.06%); Altria Group (0.96%) and DirecTV (4.95%).
The MSCI EAFE® Index (Europe, Australasia, Far East) is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure developed market equity performance, excluding the U.S. & Canada.
