Bruce G. Resnick

An Optimization Strategy for Enhancing thePerformance of Fund-of-Funds Portfolios

Previous research provides evidence that much of the crosssectional variation in equity returns can be explained by firm characteristics or sectors. One popular money management technique is to construct a portfolio (fund) using other managed portfolios (funds). The resulting overall portfolio is generally referred to as a fund-of-funds portfolio. This study by Larsen and Resnick demonstrates the potential for performance enhancement in a fund of funds when portfolio optimization techniques are employed on sector funds in order to construct the overall fund. Notably, ex ante optimization over sector funds that are constructed on the basis of market capitalization, price-to-earnings ratios, change in operating earnings, and book-to-market ratios demonstrates the potential for enhancing an overall equity fund performance relative to value-weighted and equal-weighted benchmark portfolios that are constructed from the population of stocks from which the sector portfolios are formed.

A Trading Strategy to Profit from Overly Aggressive Downward Earnings Guidance

The empirical evidence presented in this article suggested that it is potentially possible for an informed trader in after-hours trading to earn abnormal returns from identifying and investing in stocks with a positive earnings surprise. The strategy is based on a simple (naïve) moving average time series forecast of earnings, conditional on the moving average forecast and the last analyst s forecast both being positive, and with the former being larger than the latter. These are likely firms that have been either subject to aggressive downward earning guidance or just firms for which analysts have become less favorably inclined about earnings prospects. These findings should prove useful to informed investors who trade or construct portfolios based on the information in earnings surprises.