Friday, July 21, 2017

Marquette AIM Funds' Investment Performance as of 6/30/2017


AIM Program Funds’ Performance as of June 30, 2017


The students in Marquette's Applied Investment Management (AIM) program have been managing University endowment funds since 2005. The student-managers oversee two equity portfolios for Marquette's endowment, as well as a fixed income fund. The total funds under management are approaching $3 million.

The 1-, 3- and 5-year returns for the three funds as of June 30, 2017 are presented in the tables below - along with their benchmarks. While most active managers have struggled to match their benchmarks, the AIM students have generally performed in the top half of active managers. All returns are reported net of all fees and transactions costs.



The AIM Small Cap Equity Fund holds the common stock of various US firms with a market capitalization between $200 million and $3 billion).  This is a highly volatile sector of the equity market which provides important learning opportunities for the AIM students. The performance of the fund in the past year was outstanding (+25.90%), while the longer-term returns are on par with the small cap benchmarks.

The AIM International Equity Fund allows students to invest in the common stock of non-US domiciled firms. The students are limited to only investing in American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) and global stocks denominated in the US Dollar which makes the fund susceptible to currency swings. While the fund posted strong returns the past year (+19.37%), it has been a challenging market the past several years - which has provided the students with many valuable learning experiences.

The AIM Fixed Income Fund utilizes exchange traded funds (ETFs) and provides the students with a different set of challenges. Understanding and forecasting the movement of interest rates among the various categories of fixed income securities requires the students to stay current with US monetary policy and the macroeconomy. During the past year the AIM Fixed Income Fund outperformed the benchmarks and has generated competitive long-term results.

Total Net Investment Returns (%) as of 6/30/2017
1 Year
3 Year
5 Year
AIM Small Cap Equity Fund
25.90
6.70
12.69
Benchmark: Russell 2000 Index
24.60
7.36
13.70
Benchmark: Morningstar US Fund Small Index
20.96
5.66
12.71
AIM International Equity Fund
19.37
-1.95
4.56
Benchmark: S&P ADR Index
16.20
-1.11
6.14
Benchmark: Russell Global xUS Index
20.49
1.26
7.82
AIM Fixed Income Fund
0.00
1.91
2.14
Benchmark: Bloomberg Barclays US Agg Bond Index
-0.31
2.48
2.21
Benchmark: Bloomberg Barclays US Treasury Index
-2.32
2.01
1.28