Pathfinder Asset Management was proud to sponsor James Elliott, client and lifelong friend of Nigel’s to compete in the RedBull X-alps.
Please click HERE for the full story of James’ adventure.
2023 Hedge Fund Award Winner
For the second year in a row Pathfinder Partner’s Fund was recognized in “Overall Best 2023 Canadian Hedge Fund” category, placing second based on Best Combined 10-Year Return and Sharpe Ratio.
We would like to acknowledge our fantastic team that manages the fund for this remarkable achievement: Doug Johnson, Rob Ballard, Mark Ouellette, Jared Fehr and Gary Sidhu.
Once again, we are excited to see that our investment process delivers noteworthy long-term results and we are looking forward to further successes in the future.
Memorable Charlie Munger Quotes
Charlie Munger, the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and a legend to the investing world, has died this week at the age of 99. We would like to commemorate his legacy by selecting our favorite Munger quotes throughout the years. Please click HERE to read a list of our favorite Munger’s iconic quotes.
Congratulations to our Bill Lineker
Volunteer work at Pathfinder is very important. To that end, we would like to congratulate Bill Lineker for his 25 years of volunteer service with the National Hockey League. Over the years, we have heard great stories about his experiences and hope to hear many more to come.
Please click HERE to watch a special video made by the NHL.
2022 Hedge Fund Award Winner
We would like to congratulate Doug Johnson, Rob Ballard, Mark Ouellette, Jared Fehr and Gary Sidhu – the team that manages our Partners’ Fund at Pathfinder. They won the award from Alternative IQ, placing second in category of “Overall Best 2022 Canadian Hedge Fund”, based on combined 10-year return and Sharpe ratio. It is great to see success in our process continue to deliver long term consistent results. This is what we believe investors should focus on and we are confident that there is more to come from this talented team.
Does your Portfolio Manager speak your language?
In this article we highlight how investors may benefit from culturally competent financial services relationship, when evaluating a fit with their Portfolio Manager.
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Market Capitalization & Wealth Study
This year has been extremely volatile for all financial asset classes, including fixed income, which one normally associates with safety. In this series, we compare the total loss of wealth across various asset classes and different periods of stress in financial markets.
DOWNLOAD PIO September 9, 2022: Global Market Gap, our final thoughts
DOWNLOAD PIO August 19, 2022: The Great Global Balancing Effect
DOWNLOAD PIO August 5, 2022: The Great Balancing Effect
DOWNLOAD PIO July 29, 2022: Bonds really matter
Portfolio Diversification and Commodities
At Pathfinder we have designed our individual mandates to fit together with limited overlap. To often we see actively managed investment portfolios with over diversified funds, ultimately offering limited differential from widely available, essentially costless ETFs. Our Resource Fund is one of the major components that we believe provides true investment diversification. Our investment team wrote a series of notes highlighting this aspect of the portfolio and we felt it useful to share.
DOWNLOAD PIO March 11, 2022: Portfolio Diversification and Commodities I
DOWNLOAD PIO March 18, 2022: Portfolio Diversification and Commodities II Oil
DOWNLOAD PIO March 25, 2022: Portfolio Diversification and Commodities III Uranium
DOWNLOAD PIO April 1, 2022: Portfolio Diversification and Commodities IV Fertilizers
DOWNLOAD PIO April 8, 2022: Portfolio Diversification and Commodities V Portfolio Allocation
Geopolitics and The Market
At the start of the pandemic in early 2020, we analyzed market responses to various historical events. While extreme and high-profile events will cause an initial negative reaction, they are often exaggerated, and markets tend to recover without causing lasting damage. As such, when facing these world events, we should respond with logic instead of with fear and panic. This became important again during February of 2022 when Russia attacked the Ukraine. For more details, please see below for our series on “Geopolitical Events & Fear”.
DOWNLOAD PIO February 7, 2020: Geopolitical Events & Fear I
DOWNLOAD PIO February 14, 2020: Geopolitical Events & Fear II…War & Terrorism
DOWNLOAD PIO February 21, 2020: Geopolitical Events & Fear III…Pandemics
Inflation Views
The potential for an increase in inflation as a result of the pandemic and government mitigation efforts is a significant question that has implications for all asset classes. The level of interest rates is one of the major inputs used to calculate intrinsic value, and inflation expectations are a critical part of determining interest rates. In the Investment Outlook series below we outline the various issues and our evolving thesis. Please check back over time as we provide updates on ongoing data developments.
DOWNLOAD PIO July 2, 2021: Inflation Revisited
DOWNLOAD PIO March 5, 2021: Putting it All Together
DOWNLOAD PIO February 26, 2021: Is Inflation real?
DOWNLOAD PIO February 19, 2021: Reasons Why Inflation Readings May Increase
An Investor’s Guide to Navigating Commodity Cycles and Geologic Deposits
Commodities, namely gold and copper have been in the forefront recently and in this series, Gary Sidhu, Analyst for the Pathfinder Resource Fund discusses the cyclical nature of these cycles and some factors that influence them. On a high level, he discusses how ore deposits are formed and key characteristics to look for when assessing projects. For our clients that are looking to learn more about gold, copper, and battery metals, we believe this series of Outlooks should be a good starting point.
DOWNLOAD PIO November 20, 2020: Commodities For Tomorrow
DOWNLOAD PIO November 6, 2020: Copper Deposits and Characteristics
DOWNLOAD PIO October 30, 2020: Gold Deposits and Characteristics
DOWNLOAD PIO October 9, 2020: Origins of Metals & How Ore Deposits are Formed
DOWNLOAD PIO October 2, 2020: Commodity Price Drivers
DOWNLOAD PIO September 25, 2020: Commodity Cycles: Boom, Bust & Transition
2020 Hedge Fund Award Winner
We would like to congratulate, Rob Ballard, Gary Sidhu and Mark Ouellette again, the team that manages our Resource Fund at Pathfinder. They won the third place award for Alternative IQ “Best 1 Year Return” for all equity focused hedge funds in Canada. It is great to see success in our process and we believe there is more to come from all of their effort.
DOWNLOAD 2020 Canadian Hedge Fund Award Winners
Alternative IQ 13th Annual Canadian Hedge Fund Awards Gala Dinner
People With More of Their Own Money on the Line Tend to Make Better Decisions
“And at the end of the day…what I will tell you more than anything else that I’ve realized in 44 years, of which 20 I’ve been investing in some way, shape or form, is those people who put more of their own money on the line tend to make better decisions than those people that are riding other people’s money. And at the end of the day, if you look back on the single greatest investor of our generation, the most important thing that you would have done by backing Warren Buffett, you know, the best thing you would have done by backing a John Malone, the best thing you would have done by backing Jim Simons, is allowing them to compound their own money and going along for the ride with them. I think that’s a really important point. And so, at the most basic level, my advice to everybody is read the disclosures, read the diligence, and then ask one primary question: How much of your own money are you putting on the line. Yours. Not other people’s, not your fund’s, none of that garbage. How much of your own?” – Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya
A Reason to Understand What You Invest In
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted financial markets around the world. Over the course of 2020, broad market indices across multiple asset classes dropped and, after central bank and government intervention, ultimately rebounded. Our research process identified actual businesses (as opposed to their stock prices!!) that were not as affected by the pandemic. In fact, some firms were able to “weather the storm” and even expanded their business. Other’s were just plain misjudged by the market, creating opportunities for astute investors. Below is a series of Investment Outlooks focusing on companies from each of Pathfinder’s mandates that exhibit these attributes:
DOWNLOAD PIO July 10, 2020: North American Equity: Stella Jones Inc
DOWNLOAD PIO July 3, 2020: Pathfinder Partners Fund: Microbix Biosystems Inc.
DOWNLOAD PIO June 26, 2020: Pathfinder Resource Fund: Gold Equities
DOWNLOAD PIO June 19, 2020: Pathfinder Real Fund: Kinaxis Inc.
DOWNLOAD PIO June 12, 2020: Pathfinder International Fund: ASML Holding NV.
Demystifying COVID-19
Recently our Partners’ Fund team found a company involved in the fight against COVID that they believed was worthy of study. Part of the research into that company resulted in the following report being presented to our investment committee by Jared Fehr. We found the work that Jared did interesting and thought our clients might as well. It’s a little longer than normal and the subject matter is somewhat “weighty” but thought it good to share.
2019 Hedge Fund Award Winner
We would like to congratulate Doug Johnson, Rob Ballard, Mark Ouellette and Gary Sidhu again, the team that manages our Partners’ Fund at Pathfinder. They won the third place award for Alternative IQ “Best 5 Year Return” for all equity focused hedge funds in Canada. It is great to see success in our process and we believe there is more to come from all of their effort.
DOWNLOAD 2019 Canadian Hedge Fund Award Winners
Alternative IQ 12th Annual Canadian Hedge Fund Awards Gala Dinner
Due Diligence
We believe that an important part of the investment management process is visiting the companies that we own and meeting with management. At Pathfinder, collectively our Investment Team does this with more than 500 companies a year… in their offices, in our offices, on site and at investor conferences. We believe that “getting out and seeing” for ourselves is a critical component in building a portfolio.
When we meet with one of our portfolio companies, we discuss the results of the interviews, plant, site and/or office tours during our Investment Committee each week. We also write about those meetings in the Pathfinder Investment Outlook, which our clients receive regularly. Please see below for some of the more interesting excerpts of this work:
DOWNLOAD PIO Oct 11, 2019: China Trip Part I
DOWNLOAD PIO Sept 13, 2019: Ecuador Site Visit Adventus Mining Co.
DOWNLOAD PIO Aug 19, 2016: Microsoft Corp.
DOWNLOAD PIO Nov 25, 2016 Outlook: Wells Fargo & Co. & Manulife Financial Corp.
Vancouver Housing Reports
Over the last three years we have written on Vancouver real estate and whether we think it is a good investment. Report one (July 2015) addressed why we thought Vancouver real estate was expensive; report two (August 2016) addressed factors driving Vancouver real estate prices higher despite being expensive; report three (September 2018) addressed changes that occurred in those factors and report four (September 2019) addressed whether we think real estate prices have fallen enough to now be viewed as attractive. The reports were well received and we include all four below:
DOWNLOAD PIO Volume 9 Edition 14 | Sept 27th, 2019
DOWNLOAD PIO Volume 8 Edition 17 – 20 | Aug 31st – Sept 21st, 2018
2018 Hedge Fund Award Winner
We would like to congratulate Doug Johnson, Rob Ballard and Mark Ouellette, the team that manages our Partners’ Fund at Pathfinder. They won the award for Alternative IQ “Best 5 Year Return” for all equity focused hedge funds in Canada. It is great to see success in our process and we believe there is more to come from all of their effort.
DOWNLOAD 2018 Canadian Hedge Fund Award Winners
Alternative IQ 11th Annual Canadian Hedge Fund Awards Gala Dinner
Pathfinder Investment Outlook
With talk of trade wars dominating headlines over the past few weeks, we thought our clients and friends would appreciate our commentary on the matter. This piece was well received; therefore, we wanted to make it available for future reference.
Download PIO Volume 8 Edition 12
Mike Sails with the Navy
Last month, Pathfinder’s President Michael Rudd, boarded a Canadian Navy frigate on a three-day excursion alongside military personnel for a leadership exchange program aptly called Canadian Leaders at Sea (CLaS). As great supporters of the Canadian Navy, we wanted to highlight this fortunate experience which we shared in Volume 6 Edition 38 of the Pathfinder Investment Outlook.
Vancouver Housing Report
In early August of this year, we sent out our latest report on Vancouver Real Estate. Our report focused on the issue of potential money laundering and fraud. Since we released our report there have been multiple articles highlighting the same issue which we also include below.
Vancouver Sun Non-compliance with BC Real Estate Firms | November 17, 2016
BNN CRA Investigates Tax Evasion In Real Estate | September 13, 2016
Globe and Mail Vancouver Real Estate Speculators | September 12, 2016
Globe and Mail Seizures of Undeclared Cash at YVR | September 9, 2016
Vancouver Sun Chinese Legal Cases Targeting BC Property | September 9, 2016
Pathfinder Advisory Board
Pathfinder is honoured to announce the formation of an Advisory Board and the appointment of three distinguished members.
DOWNLOAD Pathfinder Advisory Board
Regulators Investigate “Closet Indexers” of the Mutual Fund Industry
The term “active management” is commonly touted in marketing materials for mutual funds. We read a recent article commenting on the launch of an investigation by regulators to determine the truth behind the claims, so we decided to shed some light on this.
DOWNLOAD Closet Indexing
Pathfinder Investment Outlook
Chinese/English Version
The Pathfinder Investment Outlook is translated into Mandarin.
Download Pathfinder Investment Outlook
Pathfinder Investment Outlook
With housing affordability attracting an increasing number of headlines over the past six months, we thought our clients and friends would appreciate our commentary about Vancouver real estate. This piece was well received; therefore, we wanted to make it available for future reference.
Download Pathfinder Investment Outlook
How The Economic Machine Works
Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates always has something interesting to say. We have learned a lot from him over the years and this video is “classic Dalio”. Doug Johnson, our founder, came across it and thought that we should share it with our investment team and clients. Anyone who is interested in the stock market should see it in our opinion. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
WIM Volume 4 Edition 36
One of our clients replied to this Weekly indicating it gave her a good understanding of how we manage the portfolios.
Download WIM Volume 4 Edition 36