Top International Managers Staying Defensive

Two international mutual fund managers with stellar long-term track records, Tom Forester and Robert Wyckoff Jr., have been continuing to beat the market recently using defensive approaches. 

Forester has outperformed other funds in his category recently by sticking with several consumer staples stocks, including spirit-maker Diageo, according to The New York Times. Wyckoff’s fund, meanwhile, has been helped by defensive stocks like British American Tobacco, Diageo, Heineken, Roche, and Novartis.

Both Forester and Wyckoff are underweighting financials, with neither owning any eurozone banks, the Times reports. Forester also has a good portion — 40% — of his Forester Discovery Fund in cash, saying he was “very concerned about the uncertainties in the world.” He likes dollars more than euros right now, explaining, “We could have held that cash in euros if we wanted, but we are choosing to hold that cash in dollars. Right now, we believe the dollar is a better holding than the euro.”