Brown Advisory US Flexible Equity
This fund was launched in the UK in 2014, and a retail share class in 2016, but a parallel version has been managed by the same team for more than 20 years in the United States. The fund has been run by Maneesh Bajaj since 2017. Its strategy is unconstrained, meaning Maneesh is free to select companies from across the market-cap spectrum. This has enabled the fund to become one of the few to regularly outperform the S&P 500 over long periods of time.
Our Opinion
Fund Manager
Expand
Fund Manager
Close
Maneesh is the portfolio manager for the Flexible Equity strategy at Brown Advisory. He joined the firm in 2005, after working as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Co. in New York. His previous experience also includes roles in Corporate Value Consulting at Standard & Poor’s and in telecom network design at Primus Telecommunications. Maneesh holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky. He is also a CFA charterholder.
Maneesh is the portfolio manager for the Flexible Equity strategy at Brown Advisory. He joined the firm in 2005, after working as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Co. in New York. His previous experience also includes roles in Corporate Value Consulting at Standard & Poor’s and in telecom network design at Primus Telecommunications. Maneesh holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky. He is also a CFA charterholder.
Read More
Risk
Read more
Back
Company Description
Brown Advisory, as it is today, was formed in 1993, but has a 200-year investment heritage and a wide variety of funds offering exposure to the US market. Based in Baltimore and Washington D.C., but with offices elsewhere the US, Brown Advisory opened its London office in 2008. The majority of the company’s 400+ full-time employees own stock in the firm, maximising alignment with client interests.
Fund Performance
Close
Risk
Close
Talking Factsheet
Investment process
As the name suggests, the strategy of this fund is flexible, with a bias to attractive valuations but still looking for growing companies. Maneesh primarily seeks out undervalued medium to large improving businesses, which rewards the fund with good liquidity (ability to buy and sell easily) and decent growth prospects. Maneesh invests in a wide universe of US stocks and the portfolio has a low turnover. Companies with recent management change offer particular appeal.
Risk
Brown Advisory US Flexible equity is likely to underperform if the market becomes too focused on growth stocks, or one specialised area of the market, as the fund will always be more diversified. This was the case in 1999, with the technology boom, and again in 2007 when commodities were strong. The manager's approach tends to result in the fund falling less when markets go down, which offers a cushion for more cautious investors.
ESG
ESG - Integrated
Maneesh has access to Brown Advisory’s prominent and growing ESG research team, to help him avoid exposure to material ESG risks. This team gathers its own proprietary information from a variety of sources including company calls, corporate reports, industry journals and expert networks, to identify risks related to ESG factors. These could include excessive pay, environmental issues or data security, for example. This work is then integrated into the stock selection process, aiming to avoid those with excessive ESG risk, as well as identify those that are willing to engage with Brown Advisory to improve their practices.
Related Insights
The information, data, analyses, and opinions contained herein (1) include the proprietary information of FundCalibre, (2) may not be copied or redistributed without prior permission, (3) do not constitute investment advice offered by FundCalibre, (4) are provided solely for informational purposes and therefore are not an offer to buy or sell a fund, and (5) are not warranted to be correct, complete, or accurate. FundCalibre shall not be responsible for any trading decisions, damages, or other losses resulting from, or related to, this information, data, analyses, or opinions or their use. The Elite Fund rating is subjective in nature and reflects FundCalibre’s current expectations of future events/behaviour as they relate to a particular fund. Because such events/behaviour may turn out to be different than expected, FundCalibre does not guarantee that a fund will perform in line with its FundCalibre benchmark. Likewise, the Elite Fund rating should not be seen as any sort of guarantee or assessment of the creditworthiness of a fund nor of its underlying securities and should not be used as the sole basis for making any investment decision. FundCalibre disclaims any responsibility for trading decisions, damages or other losses resulting from any use of the Elite Fund rating. All performance data, as well as fund size, OCF, AMC, annual income (historic), share price discount or premium, is sourced directly from FE Analytics, and will change periodically.