Bestinvest says
This fund was once rated by Bestinvest and the process was very successful during the extended bull market prior to the collapse of Lehman Brothers. However, as with many quantitatively driven processes, performance during and after the banking crisis has been disappointing. This process is more suited to relatively stable macro economic and market environments, and with the economic outlook still uncertain we have reservations over whether it can recapture its former glories.
The SmartGARP quantitative model (Sentiment, Momentum, Accruals, Revisions, Top Down + Growth at a Reasonable Price) scans a universe of 2000 European Equities. The process gathers more than 100 pieces of stock specific data per company, 36 economic points and 28 separate sector weightings. This data is used to score the stocks in the universe, with the top ranked companies going into the portfolio.
The process is normally 90% quantitative with the remainder coming from the manager, however he does have complete control over portfolio construction and an override where he thinks it is appropriate. 80% of performance is likely to come from stock selection, the remainder from sector selection.
The investment process is designed to identify growing companies at a good price with a particular emphasis on earnings revisions which is double weighted in the SmartGARP system.