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Investments

Equities

Sterling Capital manages institutional assets for a diverse group of clients, including corporate, public, insurance, non-profits, and health care investment pools.

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Overview

Our primary goals are long-term, consistent investment performance and exceptional client service. We achieve these goals by maintaining a consistent process for managing risk and a complete focus on developing strong client relationships.

Sterling Capital's Equity teams manage a diverse family of products. Our investment philosophy is built on a foundation of value investing while avoiding risk to permanent capital impairment. This process helps us deliver attractive long-term risk adjusted performance.

Equity Opportunities

Sterling Capital’s Equity Opportunities Team’s investment process is built upon four intuitive and time-tested pillars that have proven to be additive to long-term performance. The pillars guiding investment decisions are above average growth, above average profitability, below average valuation and stronger than average financial strength. Above all, the team uses the four pillars to adhere to its key practice of buying quality business.

Product Profiles


Focused Factor/Behavioral Finance

Within the suite of focused factor based equity products, Sterling Capital Management employs techniques that seek to capitalize upon Behavioral Finance based principles. Investors are prone to certain biases and heuristics (mental shortcuts) that when coupled with greed, fear and ego can often lead to anomalies within the financial markets. Our investment process, with the value and momentum factors that are implemented to the portfolio construction techniques that are employed, produces strategies specifically designed to capitalize upon investor behavior.


Fundamental

Sterling Capital’s Fundamental Equity Team concentrates its investment strategy on stocks of small to medium-sized companies that generate strong cash flows, trade at a significant discount to intrinsic value and are well-financed. This approach creates a focused portfolio of stocks that has produced attractive risk-adjusted returns over time.

Product Profiles


Relative Value

The Sterling Capital Relative Value Team manages Small Cap, Mid Cap, and Real Estate equity portfolios within a relative value framework. The team employs a combination of quantitative and fundamental research to identify stocks that are undervalued versus their peers, yet possess unique catalysts to drive potentially outsized share price appreciation. The team aims to add value primarily through positive stock selection across economic sectors while maintaining high levels of “active share.” Low historical portfolio turnover is driven by the team’s long term perspective as holdings typically possess multi-year catalysts.

Product Profiles

Equities

Insights

10.01.2024 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®

The Lead - Margin of Upside

- One of the most common mental shortcuts is regression to the mean, or the idea that outcomes far from average will revert to average over time.
- Where did the idea come from, is it true in every case, and can it create a greater understanding and yield profitable insights?
- Finally, if there are advantaged companies that challenge this assumption as the economy has evolved, what valuations will the market typically award them?

09.30.2024

Sterling Capital Equity Portfolio Management Updates

Sterling Capital announces the creation of the Insight Equity Group, combining the firm's Fundamental Equity and Relative Value teams, along with the April 2025 retirement of Patrick Rau, CFA®/.

09.18.2024 • Brandon Carl, CFA®

U.S. Equity Market Performance Following the First Fed Funds Rate Cut

After two and a half years of battling elevated inflation with aggressive monetary policy tightening measures, the Federal Reserve (Fed) finally reduced the federal funds target rate range (fed funds rate) by 50 basis points during its September 2024 meeting. With recent inflation indicators seemingly within the Fed’s comfort zone, coupled with an increasing emphasis on supporting the labor market, we believe it’s highly likely that additional rate cuts are forthcoming.

09.12.2024 • Will Smith, CFA®

Down but Not Out: Why Mid-Cap Value Appears Increasingly Attractive

For almost a decade, large-cap growth has been a dominant factor driving market returns. However, we see mounting evidence mid-cap value stocks are due for a comeback. We have long argued mid caps are a potential “sweet spot” for investors. We believe they boast better liquidity, stronger balance sheets, and more durable competitive advantages than small-cap peers and are often more nimble, focused, and less well covered by the sell side than large caps.

09.04.2024 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®

The Lead - Dividend Opportunities

- As we enter September, it appears the Federal Reserve is prepared to lower the federal funds rate at their September 18, 2024 meeting.
- Historically, dividend payers have outperformed non-dividend payers after the first cut.
- One may question if historically it has been better to own high yielders versus dividend growers, and if it has been better to own slower or faster dividend growers. We address these topics in this month’s piece.

08.29.2024

Guardian Capital buys Sterling Capital Management from Truist

(pionline.com) Guardian Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of Guardian Capital Group, will acquire investment manager Sterling Capital Management from Truist Financial.

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