FTGF CB US Agrsv Gr A USD Acc

Analyst Report
Morningstar's Take
|24/10/2023

by Jack Shannon
We have qualitatively reviewed ClearBridge Aggressive Growth and reaffirmed its Process and People ratings. A promising new comanager is overseeing this strategy, though he needs time to prove his successful process in small-cap investing can be carried over here. The following text is from Nov. 4, 2022.

This fund underwent a massive change in 2021 when Aram Green was tapped to replace longtime manager Richie Freeman. With Freeman’s low-turnover approach, the portfolio grew stale, and the fund widely lagged competitors as it missed out on many of the secular growth trends that powered the market. Green was tapped to reverse that, and he is more than capable of doing so. He has a fantastic record as a manager on small- and mid-cap strategies, showing a particular penchant for picking technology stocks, which was the sore spot under Freeman.

Green does not have much experience in the large-cap space, but this fund is going to play to his strengths. According to Green and comanager Evan Bauman, the current portfolio is what investors should expect going forward, at least from a portfolio construction point of view. They are porting over Green’s investing framework, which buckets stocks based on their growth profiles and looks to keep the bulk of the portfolio in steadier businesses with a fourth of the portfolio reserved for more risky, hyper-growth stocks. They will generally look down the market-cap ladder—Green’s sweet spot—for those faster-growing companies, like recent purchases Snowflake SNOW, Doximity DOCS, and CrowdStrike CRWD.

Investors should expect this fund to be unlike most of its peers. This fund is currently positioned in the large-growth corner of the Morningstar Style Box, and it will likely settle there over the long run. However, Green and Bauman are unlikely to own some of the biggest technology names associated with the large-growth Morningstar Category. They prefer off-the-radar, unique businesses, and the megacap technology-related behemoths are unlikely to fit that bill.

 
Morningstar Medalist Rating™Clear direction.
To find out how Morningstar rates a fund click here.
Morningstar Pillars
PeopleAbove Average
ParentAverage
ProcessAverage
 
Morningstar Medalist RatingMorningstar assigns the Medalist Rating to funds that are qualitatively and quantitatively assessed through manager research and algorithmic processes. The assessment turns on three key “pillars” – People, Process, and Parent – that yield an estimate of how well a fund will perform before fees but after adjusting for risk.
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