This fund just celebrated its 20th birthday. Its five largest holdings include: SPDR® Barclays International Trs Bd ETF (3.23% of assets); SPDR® S&P 500 ETF (2.87%); US Treasury Note 2.125% (2.28%); iShares MBS (2.07%) and CurrencyShares® Japanese Yen ETF (1.10%).
Leuthold Core Investment Retail (LCORX)
From The Investor’s Edge
We own three distinctly different funds in this overarching category: long funds with excellent flexibility to go to cash, select different sectors and asset classes, or choose different capitalization sizes; long/short funds that make or lose their reputation on how well they pick stocks they believe will decline as well as those they think will advance; and liquid alternative funds.
Our favorite flexible funds are those offered by Leuthold Weeden Capital Management. These are all no-load funds, have good track records, and are both transparent and humble. By “humble” I mean lacking in hubris and quite candid about their mistakes as well as their successes. Fortunately for us, the latter have outnumbered the former.
Leuthold Core Investment Retail (LCORX), in their own words, from the Leuthold Funds website: “The Leuthold Core Investment Fund differs from most other mutual funds by investing in stocks, bonds, money market instruments and certain foreign securities. When appropriate, as disciplines dictate, the Core Fund may also hedge its market exposure. We adjust the proportion of each asset class to reflect our view of the potential opportunity and value offered within that sector, as well as the potential risk. Although there are no guarantees, it is our belief that successful investing demands skill both in making money and attempting to preserve any gains.
“Flexibility is central to the creation of a core portfolio that you can depend on in a variety of market conditions. We possess the flexibility and discipline to invest where we see value and to sell when we believe there is undue risk.”
Most recently, LCORX has been 18% in various bonds, 52% in select sectors, and 17% hedged, with the rest in cash and smaller positions. In a rip-snorting bull market, I’d go more for aggressive funds like former holding Akre Fund (AKREX.) For this market, nothing beats LCORX.
I consider this fund as a fine bookend for a conservative defensive portfolio.
Joseph L. Shaefer, The Investor’s Edge, www.investorsedge.us, 800-253- 2088, April 2016