SUMMARY
- The SPIVA Canada Scorecard reports on the performance of actively managed Canadian mutual funds versus that of their benchmarks, corrected for survivorship bias. It also shows equal- and assetweighted peer averages.
- The index versus active debate has been a contentious subject for decades, and there are strong opinions on both sides. The SPIVA Scorecards are the de facto scorekeepers of this debate globally.
- Although trade tensions threatened to disrupt the upward trajectory of our Canadian equity benchmarks earlier this year, the S&P/TSX Composite (+10.41%) and S&P/TSX 60 (+11.45%) both rose during the 12-month period ending June 30, 2018. Strong performance in the latter half of 2017 helped.
- Over a one-year horizon, the majority of active managers once again failed to beat their respective benchmarks; six of the seven fund categories underperformed. Canadian Dividend & Income Equity funds yielded better results than the benchmark and offered the exception.
- While the Canadian equity benchmarks benefited from an Energy-led rally and a surge in Health Care and Information Technology stocks, actively managed domestic equity funds struggled to keep pace. 93.22% of funds in the Canadian Equity category underperformed the S&P/TSX Composite in the one-year period ending June 30, 2018.
- Canadian Small-/Mid-Cap Equity managers also struggled to outperform as 90.91% were beaten by the S&P/TSX Completion (+7.21%). Larger funds appeared to fare relatively better than their smaller counterparts, as the category’s asset-weighted returns (+3.08%) were higher than its equal-weighted returns (+2.71%).
- As the Bank of Canada increased interest rates, yield-focused active equity strategies continued to offer the best relative performance of any category over a one-year horizon; 67.57% of Canadian Dividend & Income Equity funds beat the S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats® since the end of June 2017. But 100% of the category’s funds lagged the benchmark over a 10-year horizon.
- Canadian Focused Equity funds posted the worst relative performance over the one-year period ending June 30, 2018; 94.44% lagged the blended benchmark, which comprises the S&P/TSX Composite (50%), the S&P 500® (25%), and the S&P EPAC LargeMidCap (25%).
- International Equity funds recorded a notable increase in underperformance over the last 12- months. Market participants may have found it difficult to navigate the impact of trade tensions and concerns over a slowdown in global economic growth. Nearly 90% of the category’s funds lagged the S&P EPAC LargeMidCap, compared with 73.08% reported in the SPIVA Canada Year-End 2017 Scorecard.
- Underperformance also rose among funds investing in U.S. equities; only 27.59% of managers beat the S&P 500 (CAD) over a one-year horizon (versus 30.59% in our previous scorecard).
- The longer-term results continued to show active equity funds found it difficult to beat their respective benchmarks. The data for the 10-year period shows that around 9 out of every 10 funds underperformed their respective benchmark, and a similar story is evident over a five-year horizon.
- Fund survivorship (or the lack of) played a large role in the long-term figures; more than half of all funds in each category that were part of the investment universe 10 years ago have since been liquidated or merged.