Saturday, March 5, 2016

The AIM Class of 2016 and the Performance of the Small Cap Equity Fund through February 2016

AIM Small Cap Equity Fund Performance for the Class of 2016 
(through February 29, 2016)

The AIM Class of 2016 has managed the Small Cap Equity Fund for 11 months – with just March 2016 left. In a very challenging market environment the fund is off 103 basis points versus the Russell 2000 benchmark. As the attribution table below shows, the stock selections have actually added 33 bps (while the sector allocation effect is -136 bps). 

Click on the image to enlarge

The monthly return chart below shows that the AIM Small Cap Fund outperformed the benchmark in 5 of the 11 months since the students assumed responsibility for managing the portfolio on April 1, 2015. The chart also illustrates how challenging an environment the students experienced – there were two massive market downswings during the holding period (in the fall and winter months). The December and January periods proved to be especially challenging to all small cap fund managers.

Click on the image to enlarge


The next chart contains various portfolio performance metrics since April 1, 2015. The Beta for the AIM Fund has averaged 0.90 versus 1.00 for the benchmark. A closer look at some of the return/risk metrics reveals that the AIM portfolio actually outperformed the Russell 2000 Index relative to some of the key return/risk metrics (e.g. gain to loss ratio and Calmar ratio). The students are still hopeful for positive Alpha by the end of March 2016.


Click on the image to enlarge

The final chart shows the AIM Small Cap Fund from a Value/Growth mix perspective. As of the end of February 2016, the chart shows that the AIM Fund are equally balanced between value and growth stocks.

Click on the image to enlarge


The students in the AIM Class of 2016 will prepare a detailed performance report for each other the funds that will be distributed in April. This will summarize the performance results and it will also document their experiences in managing the AIM Funds.