is an undeniable asset in troubled times

Two major styles dominate the management stock. The first, "value", said research neglected titles. Building on a revaluation next course, il is a defensive approach and is a bit like a parachute dampening market declines. The second school is management "growth". She prefers the companies that offer high growth rates, in the hope that these promising prospects will be anticipated by a revaluation of stock market.

In the 1990s, the growth style reached excellent results. A few years later, the wheel turned to give this time advantage to undervalued securities. Since then, the borders between the two styles have become more blurred, to the point that some values of growth are now considered "value" and other analyzed as belonging really neither one or neither to the other style. Hence the emergence of a third style: "growth at reasonable price" (GARP), an intermediate form that allows the Manager to not expensive growth companies portfolio.

With the crisis, investors have been disappointed. But not so much by the style by the actions themselves. And for good reason! They did nothing or almost nothing gained with them in the long term. But in the short term, the prospect is any other! For proof, just compare the performance of the index, Russell 1000 Growth, the standard for large values of American growth, the Russell 1000 Value, his counterpart focused on titles American dumped (see chart).

Finding success in the medium term

On the very short horizon of the beginning of the year 2009 and on 11 September, 12 points separate the Russell 1000 Growth ( 25.3) of the Russell 1000 Value ( 1 3.1). Over five years, the two styles converge almost in terms of score. The first award 1.3 when the second sentence to the head of water ( 0.5). Going more far in stock market history, the trend, this time, reversed. In ten years, décotées corporations thus display an increase of 1.9, against a loss of 3.2 for celles growth. A somewhat broader gap but that does not significantly sign the advantage of choosing one or the other style.

Faced with this mixed, the notion of style appears to have fizzled, at least in a medium-long term perspective. At the time, UCITS transitioning to today use terminology more promoting a universe (sectoral, geographic, asset classes) as a specific style. Beyond this direction, nothing prevents however the individual operating arbitrations of styles. But must it be able to guess what management will be the most effective. A bet which refuse even the most experienced managers.

Laurent Dobler, Manager of Renaissance Europe (Comgest) is a true to the style "growth" for a long time. With time, his vocabulary of management is specified, and he now prefers to refer to the values of quality growth. He buys future results and therefore a bit of dream but it is not consistent: his companies, he has visited them, dissected in the seams. These are "Marathon of growth". They are little debt and generate a strong surplus cash. But the quality has its reverse: their prices can be high. For this Manager, simply hold little risky securities (Sodexo, l ' Oréal, Danone, Roche, H & M...) is an undeniable asset in troubled times. Primarily, is belief that "the purchase of securities based solely on criteria of anticipation of the movements of market and simple haircut exposes saver to unnecessary risk".

Prudential requirements

These comments are not far from those of Marc Renaud. Today, this "historic" specialist of the dumped values reduced only its choice of basic financial criteria of haircut. He now limits his appetite both undervalued securities and quality. A prudential requirement, because if "the crisis provided an opportunity to return at a good price on the shares, it has weakened parallel balance sheets and the prospects of the companies".Result, normally inaccessible securities managers "value", such as LVMH or rock, and, by tradition, returning to growth portfolios have made their entry into the Mandarin Management Fund. But this is not everything. These few opportunities reinforce the idea that an efficient management of medium-term is not only related to an investment process or style, but is more to the talent of selection of the Manager. In these conditions, and even if he "believed" always in style, Marc Renaud believes that, for an investor, it is not so much knowing what style will outperform the market, but contain the risk of an error by combining several strategies.