It’s the “bible” for Wall Street professionals, who take in the print and digital content (usually over the weekend) to find out more about the markets — and then plunge into the serious work on Monday morning, leveraging what they learned in the authoritative Barron’s<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n Barron’s,<\/strong> owned by Dow Jones & Company Inc.<\/strong>, is a publication that we can say “moves the market”.<\/p>\n The company advertises: “Prosper in a pivotal time with the trusted insights and in-depth analysis that have been guiding investors since 1921.”<\/p>\n The October 9, 2017 issue is\u00a0 The scope of the content is an important development for both investment professionals and for corporate managements. This brief explains the why.<\/p>\n The important takeaways are in Editor Beverly Goodman’s<\/strong> column under the heading of “No Shame Around Sustainable”:<\/p>\n She ends her commentary on this note:<\/p>\n About the issue’s contents…<\/p>\n The magazine’s cover story is about assessing the performance of the most sustainable [mutual] funds based on data provided by Morningstar using Sustainalytics data. (Morningstar made a strategic investment in buying 40% of Sustainalytics this year in the company.) This year, 37% of the 203 funds (76 funds) won a “high” or “above average” rating — and beat the S&P 500 index.<\/p>\n Note that only 28% of actively managed large-cap mutual funds beat the all-important S&P 500 benchmark. (One might ask: what I am getting for my fees paid for these types of advisor-managed funds?)<\/p>\n This is the second annual Barron’s performance ranking of the most sustainable funds. We see the content sending a strong signal to investment professionals that (as the editors say) “the color of outperformance [alpha] is green…”<\/p>\n Writer Crystal Kim<\/strong> focuses our attention on the 55 actively managed U.S. equity large-cap funds with “sustainable goals” — of these, 37 did NOT make the list. Most were too small to meet Barron’s threshold number (US$300 million). Not sustainable enough? That was 14 funds. Some funds fell off the first year list. (They were not really doing “ESG” work, says Morningstar.)<\/p>\n Investing for Change<\/strong> Sustainable Bonds<\/strong> Slow to Market<\/strong> That’s an encouraging call for action to BlackRock, MSCI, Vanguard, Clearbridge, Eaton Vance<\/strong>, and other marketers of Exchange Traded Funds.<\/p>\n Lewis Braham<\/strong> talks about the proxy voting patterns of fiduciaries, and why the way a sustainable fund invests is only a part of the overall rating story. The mutual fund advisors (the folks who run the funds) are not doing a very good job of holding corporate boards and managements accountable at proxy voting time is the underlying theme. This is a must-read for investors.<\/p>\n Barron’s sister publication is The Wall Street Journal<\/strong><\/em>; the company also publishes MarketWatch<\/strong>. According to the publisher’s statement, the Barron’s print magazine has about 300,000 subscribers each week in 2017.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n The Governance & Accountability Institute team is very involved in capital markets activities.<\/p>\n This past week, for example, we were part of the leadership team that presented the fourth annual ESG summit for financial professionals in New York City, organized by the CFA Society\/New York Sustainable Investing Committee.<\/strong> (Hank Boerner is Immediate Past Committee Chair; Lou Coppola is a member of the leadership team.)<\/p>\n More than a hundred analysts and asset managers participated in the all-day confab on the theme of “Climate Change Is A Given — How to Drive Value and Manage Risk.”<\/p>\n Presenters included representatives of Mellon Capital; Bernstein Private Wealth Management; Terra Alpha Investments; SEIU (union fund); Morgan Stanley; Flat World Partners; S&P; Moody’s Investor Service; CDP; Sustainalytics; MSCI; Swiss Re… and others The keynote was by the Hon. Seth Magaziner, elected Treasurer of Rhode Island (and former VP of Trillium Asset Management).<\/p>\n Connect with us if you have questions about the directions being taken by analysts, asset owners and asset managers as the uptake in sustainable investing accelerates. We’re here in New York City — market capital of the nation — and participating in the revolution!<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ga-institute.com\/to-the-point\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/article-3.1.1-300x300.jpg\")
\ndevoted to sustainable investing. The title of the Special Section is “Fund Quarterly – The Top
\nSustainable Funds.”<\/p>\n\n
Given the corporate scandals of recent days (Wells Fargo, Equifax, Chipotle, Volkswagen, Valeant Pharmaceuticals), it is clear that focus on companies with good ESG policies is the pathway to greater returns for investors!<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n
The Top-Performing Sustainable Funds<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Who is NOT on the winning list?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nVeteran investor Jeremy Grantham<\/strong> (Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment<\/strong>) talks about his almost $1 billion AUM enterprise. He is a big feature in this issue, with the focus on climate change (a variety of issues in focus).<\/p>\n
\nInvesting in sustainable bonds — a better way to go? The writer Amey Stone<\/strong> explores that approach. Maybe a better way to go to get started, with munis vs. equities.<\/p>\n
\nThere are 200+ sustainable mutual funds available to investors, many from well-known bold print names on Wall Street — so where are the ETFs? Abby Schultz<\/strong> writes about this. She finds sustainability-focused ETFs generally too small, too new, and too expensive to recommend. The writer notes “this won’t be the case for long.”<\/p>\nDerelict Proxy Voters<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Takeaways For Corporate Managers From The G&A Institute Team<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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