Are Transparent Value funds index funds?
Although we use indexes in our portfolio construction process, our funds should
not be confused with a traditional index fund. A traditional index fund is normally
created around a publicly available index and is generally used as a means of providing
an investor with broad market or sector exposure. The Dow Jones RBP IndexesSM
are licensed exclusively to Transparent Value for use in our funds.
The Transparent Value Funds use an index merely as a disciplined method of portfolio
construction; the end result is a mutual fund that aims to provide investors with
a hybrid investment strategy combining the benefits of passive investing, transparency
and rules, with the alpha generating potential of fundamental analysis generally
associated with active portfolio management. The funds use a passive management
strategy designed to track the total return performance of their respective Dow
Jones IndexSM. This works to minimize the errors that can result from
inconsistency and emotion inherent in a purely qualitative investment process and
avoids the rigid limitations of purely quantitative strategies.
Behind the RBP® methodology is a team of over 75 financial professionals,
who are responsible for constructing and maintaining the financial models, and analyzing
each company using a traditional fundamental DCF approach. The process is disciplined
and is applied consistently to every company.
Why do you use beta and momentum?
The Dow Jones RBP® Directional Series IndexesSM are unique
from other indexes in the Dow Jones RBP® IndexesSM family
in that they incorporate beta and momentum screens as selection criteria with the
aim of mitigating systemic and behavioral volatility. In combination, these factors
are intended to enable the RBP® probability to generate a cleaner signal.
How do you maintain the quality of the Required Business Performance®
scores?
We have developed a robust quality assurance program that together with the Quality
Assurance Committee, maintains a dialogue with our senior analysts to ensure that
our policies and procedures are continuously and rigorously tested.
How frequently is a company model updated?
The standard update process coincides with a company’s quarterly financial reporting
cycle. However, the models are updated daily to reflect the prior day’s stock price.
What is the Transparent Value Knowledge Management program? What happens if an analyst
leaves Transparent Value?
The research staff consists of managers, team leaders, and analysts who are divided
into teams that cover specific industry sectors in order to develop expertise in
those areas. The current policy is to limit coverage to 30 stocks per analyst, which
allows for some flexibility to monitor additional names for short periods, as required
by market conditions. Actual coverage is generally below the 30-stock limit. If
an analyst leaves Transparent Value, all of his companies are temporarily reassigned
to analysts within the same industry group. This process assures continuous coverage
of all the securities.
What is the coverage universe?
We currently cover approximately 1,300 U.S. large-cap and mid-cap securities, and
600 European Large-Cap securities. We also cover TOPIX 30, a Japanese index. We
expect to expand coverage of U.S. securities by the end of 2010.
Is there universal/standard approach to analysis, i.e. number of templates?
There are seven templates designed around the structure of financial reporting standards
for various industries. The templates contain the discounted free cash flow models,
RBP® calculations, and probability calculations. While the format of
the financial statements differs, the underlying calculation of RBP®
is the same.
Standard templates cover the following industries:
- Energy/Oil & Gas
- Real Estate
- Banking
- Home Builders
- Broker Dealers
- Insurance
- Commercial
The most common industry classification, Commercial, refers to all sectors that
do not fall into one of the other categories. In addition to the broad templates,
there are standardized business models for various industries. These are the models
that evaluate a diversified company’s individual lines of business and their contribution
to total RBP®.
What is Transparent Value hiring process?
Analysts are generally hired straight out of business school. This is intentional
on the part of management as talented young professionals are more likely to adapt
to the RBP philosophy and Transparent Value’s innovative approach to equity analysis.
The recruiting process requires two examinations prior to an interview. The first
is an electronic standardized test on general finance, economic, and accounting
principles. The pass rate is approximately 25%. For those who pass, a second test
is given that relates directly to the construction of financial statements, where
a pass rate of 25% or less is estimated. Those who pass are invited for a half-day
interview process, consisting of three rounds. The first round is with one of the
analysts, followed by interviews with a team leader and a manager.
The following is an example of the recruiting process:
- 200 applicants
- 50 pass the first test
- 10 pass the second test and are interviewed
- 2 to 3 are offered employment
Do analysts undergo a training program to learn RBP Methodology?
Upon hire, new analysts start on the first Monday of each month which allows for
the standard training schedule. Training takes approximately six weeks where initial
education covers the basics of finance and accounting, valuation using discounted
free cash flows, introduction to templates and business models, adjusting for mergers/spin
offs and negative cash flow situations, and model construction. The later part of
training is customized to the current needs of a specific company, focusing on models
and back-testing for stocks within an industry that the analyst will potentially
be responsible for.
Analyst coverage is phased in after training, with other analysts on the team assisting
until the analyst reaches capacity. Capacity is generally reached in 17 to 18 weeks.
The team leader is responsible for distributing coverage and can evaluate progress.
The team approach continues with peer reviews and backup coverage.
Definitions
Beta - measures the amount which a stock tends to increase or decrease in
value relative to the change in the value of the overall stock market. For example,
if the market increases by 5%, a stock with a beta of 1 would tend to also increase
by 5% (5% x 1.0), while a stock with a beta of 0.5 would tend to increase by 2.5%
(5% x 0.5), and a stock with a beta of 1.5 would tend to increase by 7.5% (5% x
1.5).
Free Cash Flow (FCF) - the amount of cash generated by a company from its
normal operations which is available for distribution to investors, after taking
into account any necessary investment.
Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis - a means to value a company by projecting
the cash flows it will generate in the future and discounting them by the appropriate
cost of capital, or interest rate, to determine the present value of those cash
flows.
Momentum - the rate of acceleration of a security's price or volume.
What Cost of Capital is used in the financial models?
Transparent Value analysts use Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) in all of
the financial models. WACC is the weighted average of the cost of equity and the
cost of debt based on the proportion of debt and equity in the company's capital
structure. The proportion of debt is represented by Debt/Total Value, a ratio comparing
the company's debt to the company's total value (equity + debt). The proportion
of equity is represented by Equity/Total Value, a ratio comparing the company's
equity to the company's total value. The WACC is represented by the following formula:
WACC = Cost of Equity x Equity/Total Value + Cost of Debt x (1 - corporate tax rate)
x Debt/Total Value
The equity component of the WACC is determined from the capital asset pricing model
(CAPM):
The calculated WACC is compared to Bloomberg reported value for comparison purposes
only.