Alger Launches High-Conviction, Focused Fund with ESG Mandate

By Georgio Salas.
Updated Jan 5, 2022

NEW YORK (PRWEB) January 05, 2022 - Fred Alger Management, LLC (Alger), a leading growth equity investment manager, today announced the launch of the Alger Weatherbie Enduring Growth Fund, a high-conviction, focused portfolio of approximately 25 growth equities. The portfolio management team incorporates an environmental, social and governance (ESG) scoring methodology into the investment process and looks to invest in companies that consider their ESG impact while delivering consistent results for shareholders.

The portfolio is managed by Senior Portfolio Managers George Dai, Ph.D., and Josh Bennett, CFA, who each have more than 20 years of investment experience.

Alger Weatherbie Enduring Growth Fund builds upon our philosophy of investing the Weatherbie Way, which we have followed to drive stock selection for more than 25 years, said George. We are especially excited about the opportunity to provide ESG benefits on top of promising growth potential to all stakeholders, including customers, communities, employees and, of course, shareholders.

The entire investment team at Weatherbie Capital, LLC, the sub-advisor to the fund, has received the CFA Institute Certificate in ESG investing. The certificate recognizes that an investment professional has the knowledge and skills to analyze and integrate ESG factors into the investment process.

As investors are increasingly considering ESG in their portfolios, we recognized an opportunity to incorporate these important factors with our long-standing team-based approach towards creating a high-conviction portfolio of what we believe are our best ideas across dynamic areas of the market, Josh said.

George and Josh have a long history of working together as analysts and portfolio managers at Weatherbie Capital. Along with Edward M.B. Minn, CFA, they also manage the Weatherbie Specialized Growth Strategy, a more than $4 billion portfolio of primarily small and mid cap growth equities with a track record dating back to 1996.

Like the Weatherbie Specialized Growth Strategy, the Alger Weatherbie Enduring Growth Fund seeks to invest in quality companies with innovative business models, strong sales and rapid earnings growth. As part of the teams bottom-up research process, they utilize each companys ESG risk score to determine whether an identified company is an appropriate investment for the Fund. The team believe the ESG risk score, which is determined by third-party quantitative research, is an important and valuable tool in portfolio construction.

About Alger Founded in 1964, Alger is widely recognized as a pioneer of growth-style investment management. Headquartered in New York City with affiliate offices in Boston and London, Alger provides U.S. and non-U.S. institutional investors and financial advisors access to a suite of growth equity separate accounts, mutual funds, and privately offered investment vehicles. The firms investment philosophy, discovering companies undergoing Positive Dynamic Change, has been in place for over 50 years. Weatherbie Capital, LLC, a Boston-based investment adviser specializing in small and mid-cap growth equity investing is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alger. For more information, please visit http://www.alger.com.

The views expressed are the views of Fred Alger Management, LLC (FAM) and its affiliates as of January 2022. These views are subject to change at any time and may not represent the views of all portfolio management teams. These views should not be interpreted as a guarantee of the future performance of the markets, any security or any funds managed by FAM. These views are not meant to provide investment advice and should not be considered a recommendation to purchase or sell securities.

Risk Disclosures: Investing in the stock market involves risks, including the potential loss of principal. Growth stocks may be more volatile than other stocks as their prices tend to be higher in relation to their companies earnings and may be more sensitive to market, political, and economic developments. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness such as COVID-19 or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on investments. A significant portion of assets may be invested in securities of companies in related sectors, and may be similarly affected by economic, political, or market events and conditions and may be more vulnerable to unfavorable sector developments. The Sub-Advisers use of an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rating agency to implement the Funds investment strategy may result in the selection or exclusion of securities for reasons other than financial performance and the strategy may underperform strategies that do not utilize an ESG rating agency or employ another type of ESG investment strategy. In evaluating a particular issuers ESG rating, as well as the Funds weighted average ESG rating, the Sub-Adviser relies exclusively on the ESG rating agency and, therefore, is dependent upon information and data from the ESG rating agency that may be incomplete or inaccurate, or that may present conflicting information and data with respect to an issuer than other third party ESG data providers utilized throughout the industry. Investing in companies of medium capitalizations involves the risk that such issuers may have limited product lines or financial resources, lack management depth, or have limited liquidity. Assets may be focused in a small number of holdings, making them susceptible to risks associated with a single economic, political or regulatory event than a more diversified portfolio. Investing in new issues involves special risks including lack of trading history, limited information and availability, and volatility. Cash positions may underperform relative to equity and fixed-income securities. Active trading may increase transaction costs, brokerage commissions, and taxes, which can lower the return on investment. The Fund is classified as a non-diversified fund under federal securities laws because it can invest in fewer individual companies than a diversified fund.

Before investing, carefully consider the Funds investment objective, risks, charges, and expenses. For a prospectus and summary prospectus containing this and other information or for the Funds most recent month-end performance data, visit http://www.alger.com, call (800) 992-3863 or consult your financial advisor. Read the prospectus and summary prospectus carefully before investing. Distributor: Fred Alger & Company, LLC. NOT FDIC INSURED. NOT BANK GUARANTEED. MAY LOSE VALUE.