It’s been a tumultuous time for our markets since the beginning of September when we began Smart Portfolios. The benchmark BSE 200 index has plummeted 13.7 per cent since September 1.
However, the portfolios of our four fund managers have done better than the benchmark, as they have more cash. From September 1 till date, our fund managers’ portfolios stands as: Amar Ambani (-0.7%), Sadanand Shetty (-4.7%), Anand Agarwal (-6.7%) and Kashyap Pujara (-7.2%).
In this article, we review the activities of our fund managers since inception. Just before we get into the details of each of the fund managers, here’s a quick look.
Sadanand Shetty was the most active among all the fund managers with 67 trades so far, 52 buy orders and 15 sell. Kashyap Pujara has made 30 trades, including 26 buy orders and 4 sell orders. Anand Agarwal has executed 20 trades with 15 buys and 5 sell orders. Amar Ambani has made just eight trades with six buy orders and two sell orders.
CASH IS KING
Vice President (Research)
India Infoline
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With nearly 90 per cent of his corpus in cash, Amar Ambani’s mantra is ‘Cash is King’. In his interview, he had cleared that erroneous notion that a fund manager should remain invested at all times. His objective of deploying cash judiciously at appropriate times has paid off.
As a result, his portfolio value has seen a meagre depreciation of 0.7 per cent against the sharp 13.7 per cent fall in the benchmark. He currently holds just two stocks in his portfolio – Gail and Jindal Saw.
He was the last one to get started with his maiden purchase being Aban Offshore. Following which, he added Gail and Jindal Saw. He was the first fund manager to book profits as well. He sold his 40 shares of Aban Offshore for a gain of 6.3 per cent. Later, he bought 70 shares of Bharti Airtel, and sold them for a profit of nearly 3 per cent last Monday.
NO ESCAPE FROM JET LAG
Fund Manager
Reliance Money
Anand Agarwal has seen relative depreciation in portfolio value among the four fund managers. The deep cut is owing to steep losses in Jet Airways, Tata Steel and Deccan Aviation. So also a 52 per cent loss booked in HDIL. The cuts could have been deeper had it not been for some smart profit taking in Aban Offshore and Indian Bank.
His current portfolio has five stocks, with a major share – 12.3 per cent of the corpus allocated to Jet Airways, and another 8.5 per cent invested in Tata Steel. He holds 60 per cent cash.
SPREADING RISKS
Vice President
Kotak Securities
In 23 trading sessions that we have had so far since the beginning of Smart Portfolios, Sadanand Shetty has executed 67 trades and is by far the most active fund manager in Smart Portfolios. His portfolio consists of 16 stocks, and he has seen a depreciation of 4.7 per cent in value terms while he continues to hold just about 50 per cent in cash.
His top holdings are mid-sized pharma companies Lupin and Glenmark Pharma having weightage of 5 per cent each in his portfolio. Among heavyweights Bharti Airtel (4.5 per cent) is the only company with significant holding.
He was the first one to get off the block, with his purchase of OnMobile Global.
Following which, he went on to buy large-caps ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro. Later, he shifted focus to mid-caps such as Mundra Port, Everest Kanto, Jain Irrigation and Titan to name a few.
He made a neat profit of 11.3 per cent on investment in OnMobile, but his portfolio has suffered a jolt with a loss of 24.7 per cent in Mundra Port. He actively manages his portfolio and sells when he needs to.
HIT BY METAL MELTDOWN
Fund Manager
Enam Direct
Just like Anand Agarwal, Kashyap Pujara too has seen a relative cut in his portfolio value. He opened his account with buy orders in Reliance Communications and Reliance Industries.
He added Sterlite before the restructuring news after which he added more shares as the stock fell) and Madras Aluminum to his portfolio.
Apart from averaging his holdings, he made fresh investments in Century Textiles and ICICI Bank. On September 23, he booked his losses in Madras Aluminum by selling his entire holding of 400 shares after 29.4 per cent loss.
His current portfolio shows 18 per cent value depreciation in Sterlite, which has 13 per cent weightage in his portfolio, followed by Century Textile (down 17.5 per cent). On October 4, he had little over 60 per cent in cash.
| Note: In a combined effort, the four fund managers together have outperformed the benchmark BSE 200 index by nearly 9 per cent, registering a loss of 4.8 per cent against a decline of 13.7% in the benchmark. Please visit www.business-standard.com/smartportfolios to keep up with the fund managers. |