We combed our database
for active equity managers who had an sV contribution of at least 1 % / year in both the growth era since 1q07 and the value market which preceded it.
That said, we're not advocating that investors abandon the benchmark - replicating approach.With bull market and economic expansion more mature, blending active management exposures — whether through actively - managed exchange traded funds (ETFs), multi-asset managers,
traditional active equity managers or other sources — with benchmark - replicating vehicles will become increasingly important for meeting return objectives and controlling risk.
Why Indexing Beats Stock - Picking
Most active equity managers fail to keep up with the benchmark index because average index returns depend heavily on the relatively small set of best performing stocks.
The study, together with a number of subsequent papers, suggested that taxes have a significant negative impact on returns, in the range of 1 % to 3 % p.a., for the
typical active equity manager.
Recall that Trapezoid uses the Orthogonal Attribution Engine to attribute the performance
of active equity managers over time to a variety of skills.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that, according to analysis by Credit Suisse, the correlation among S&P 500 sectors had fallen close to its lowest level ever, and that this was good for
active equity managers, «who find it easier to make money betting on specific companies or trends when stocks aren't all moving together.»
Thus the irony:
active equity managers may finally have the stock picker's market for which they've hoped.
I am
an active equity manager, but I encourage people to use passive investing via index funds, unless they can find a manager who can reliably obtain outperformance.