1. Unencumbered by Style: Why do Funds Change Factor Loadings and Does it Help?
- Author
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Bai, Ting, Hilscher, Jens, and Scherbina, Anna
- Subjects
Mutual funds -- Management ,Portfolio management -- Methods ,Company business management ,Social sciences - Abstract
We show that active equity funds deliberately alter their factor loadings rather than maintaining a constant style. Changes are larger following quarters in which funds either under- or out-perform other funds based on returns or fund flows. Motivated by this observation, we identify a new measure of manager skill, which we call 'tactical investment skill.' It captures a manager's ex-ante observable ability to increase future returns through loadings changes. We show that high-skill managers outperform their low-skill peers in the following month in terms of raw returns and alphas. This outperformance is more pronounced following quarters with large loadings changes. JEL classification: G10, G20, G23 Keywords: Mutual fund style, style changes, active fund management, manager skill, factor timing, tactical investment skill, April 2024 1 Introduction Style is perhaps the most salient attribute of a mutual fund. Morningstar's ubiquitous style box is a prominent reflection of potential investors' attention to style. However, [...]
- Published
- 2024