Kotak Emerging Equity Fund

Kotak Emerging Equity is a mid- and small-cap fund. It was launched in March 2007. Against its all-time high level of assets under management (AUM) worth Rs. 336.39 crore in December 2007, today it is a smaller fund with an AUM of Rs. 58.99 crore. BSE Midcap is the benchmark index for this fund.

Fund Performance

All figures are in %, as on December 31, 2012; One-year and above returns in CAGR terms

The fund has beaten its benchmark in the one-, three- and five-year periods. It has also outperformed its benchmark in terms of returns since inception. The outperformance in the last three years is remarkable.

According to the fund manager, Pankaj Tibrewal: "Bottom up stock selection has been the main reason attributable for the sharp outperformance of the fund vis-à-vis the benchmark."

All figures in %

Barring 2009, the fund has outperformed its benchmark in all the last five calendar years.

It has also provided sound downside risk protection to its investors in the declining markets of 2011 and 2008.

Investment Strategy

According to the fund manager, "The investment objective of Kotak Emerging Equity is to generate long-term capital appreciation from a portfolio of equity and equity related securities, by investing predominantly in mid and small cap companies. These companies are either at their nascent or developing stage and are under researched. Although relatively volatile in the short run, small and mid-cap companies have the potential to deliver higher growth in the long term. Hence the fund looks out for companies which have the potential to scale up in size over a period of time and in turn generate long term wealth creation for investors."

Portfolio Characteristics

Number of equity holdings. Currently the fund holds 50 stocks in its portfolio against the category average of 42 stocks. The average for 2012 has been 49 stocks. On an average the fund held 56 stocks in 2011.

Sector Concentration. According to the latest portfolio disclosures its concentration in the top three, five and 10 sectors is lower than the category median.

All figures in %, as on December 31, 2012

Company Concentration. Similarly, the fund's concentration in the top three, five and 10 stocks is lower than the category median.

All figures in %, as on December 31, 2012

In 2012 the fund maintained the same sectoral and company concentration.

Based on the three criteria mentioned above—number of equity holdings, sector concentration and company concentration—it is clear that the fund holds a diversified portfolio. According to Pankaj, "We believe in running a diversified portfolio rather than concentrated one as we believe that the risks of holding a concentrated portfolio in small and midcap stocks is high. Also over a period of time we have seen that strategy of running diversified portfolio have been more consistent in delivering performance rather than a concentrated strategy."

Turnover Ratio. The fund last declared its turnover ratio in November 2012. It stood at 54 per cent which equalled the category median. In 2012, the fund reduced its turnover ratio gradually from 139 per cent to 54 per cent. The average turnover ratio has reduced from 269.5 per cent in 2010 to 215.8 per cent in 2011 to 104.3 per cent in 2012. A lower turnover ratio, when accompanied by sound returns, is a positive for investors since it means that the fund manager spends less on transaction fees.

Says the fund manager: "We don't target any particular turnover ratio. We believe in investing in companies from a medium to long term perspective ignoring individual economic cycles and focus more on capturing the secular trends to generate sustainable long term returns. However in the intermediate if the stocks reaches our valuation multiples or there is any negative development we may take the call otherwise. Hence turnover ratio is more of a derived number rather than a targeted one."

Expense Ratio. The fund has an expense ratio of 2.50 per cent. This is higher than the median of 2.39 per cent for the diversified-equity category.

Risk. In terms of risk measures like standard deviation and beta (measured over last three years ending December 31, 2012), the fund has a lower level of risk than the median for the diversified-equity category.

Risk-adjusted Returns. Measures like Treynor ratio and Sharpe ratio (measured over last three years, as on December 31, 2012) show that the fund has generated higher risk-adjusted returns compared to the category median.

Cash Allocation. Currently the fund's cash allocation stands at 4.75 per cent. In the last one year (calendar year 2012) the fund has maintained an average cash allocation of 2.72 per cent. The average cash holding was 4.14 per cent in 2011. The fund manager's take is: "We have defined risk limits for the fund and wouldn't like to go beyond that. We firmly believe that cash calls are zero sum game over a medium to longer term and portfolio construction is what really makes a difference in terms of alpha generation. Hence portfolio is averse of taking cash calls."

When a fund manager is fully invested in equities (and has a low cash allocation), that is a positive since a sudden upward movement in the market will not take the fund by surprise.

Portfolio Strategy

2011. In 2011 BSE Sensex generated a return of -24.64 per cent while BSE Midcap Index gave a return of -34.19 per cent. The fund generated-26.64 per cent, beating its benchmark by 7.55 per cent.

That year only the BSE FMCG Index turned in a positive performance (9.27 per cent). All other sectors turned in negative returns: BSE Healthcare (-13.20 per cent), BSE IT (-15.62 per cent), BSE Teck (-16.52 per cent), BSE Consumer Durables (-18.13 per cent) and BSE Auto (-20.30 per cent). The worst performing sectors included realty (-51.83 per cent), capital goods (-47.66 per cent), metal (-47.19 per cent), power (-39.91 per cent), media (-33.28 per cent), banks (-31.59 per cent) and oil & gas (-28.98 per cent).

In 2011, the fund had an average allocation of 41.62 per cent to large-cap stocks and 47.70 per cent to mid-cap stocks. The cash level averaged 4.14 per cent.

In 2011, the fund raised its allocation to finance, consumer durables, auto ancillaries and construction. It lowered its allocation to pharmaceuticals, chemicals, banks, consumer non-durables, software and industrial products.

Fund vs. Index – December 2011

By the end of 2011 the fund was overweight vis-a-vis its benchmark on sectors like chemicals, consumer non-durables, industrial products and consumer durables. It was underweight vis-à-vis its benchmark on finance, construction, software, banks, auto ancillaries and pharmaceuticals.

In 2011 the fund increased its exposure to companies like Gillette, Solar Industries, Hawkins Cookers and so on (see table above). Among its top 10 holdings in the fund was not underweight vis-a-vis its index on any stock.

2012. In 2012 BSE Sensex was up 25.70 per cent while BSE Midcap was up 38.52 per cent. The fund gave a stellar performance of 47.99 per cent, beating its benchmark by 9.47 percentage points.

Last year the fund had an average large-cap allocation of 34.51 per cent, average mid-cap allocation of 56.30 per cent and average cash allocation of 2.72 per cent.

In calendar year 2012 the fund raised its allocation to sectors like cement, textile products, industrial capital goods, banks and consumer durables. It lowered its allocation to chemicals, consumer non-durables, media and pharmaceuticals.

According to Pankaj, "We are currently positive on sectors such as media, cement, auto ancillaries, financials and consumer discretionary. Our focus has been on bottom up stock selection and currently the endeavour is to select stocks where there is incremental change in cash flow generation and ROE/ROCE profile in positive for next year."

Fund vs. Index – December 2012

By December 2012 among the top 10 holdings, the fund was overweight vis-à-vis its benchmark on cement, textile products, banks, media, chemicals, industrial capital goods and consumer durables. It was underweight on pharmaceuticals and consumer non-durables.

Says the fund manager: "We are current underweight on consumer staples, auto manufacturers, real estate, and capital goods/infrastructure."

In 2012 the fund increased its exposure to stocks like Kewal Kiran Clothing, Whirlpool, Graphite India, Hawkins and so on (mentioned in the table above). It marginally reduced its exposure to Solar Industries.

Fund Manager

The fund has been managed by Pankaj Tibrewal and Emmanuel Elango since May 2010 and August 2008 respectively. Pankaj also manages schemes like Kotak Opportunities, Kotak Midcap, Kotak TaxSaver, Kotak Balance, Kotak Multi Asset Allocation Fund and Kotak Monthly Income Plan. He has been with Kotak AMC since January 2010. His ability to manage the fund well reflects in its consistent performance since he took charge.

Conclusion

The fund is definitely a strong contender in the mid-cap fund category. It has managed to do well in both rising and falling markets. We recommend it because of its consistency, fund manager's track record, and favourable risk and concentration levels.