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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

07.03.2024 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®

The Lead - "Going for Gold"

- Economic indicators such as gross domestic product and the Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Index recently showed slowing growth, while the Consumer Price Index remains stubbornly above the Federal Reserve’s target rate. Concerns over slowing economic growth amidst higher inflation, also known as stagflation, have emerged. - In such a scenario, we would note that quality and cash deployment (dividends and share buybacks) shine in a slow growth, higher inflation environment. - The problem recently is that the slowing economy has led to a slowdown in cash returned to shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks by the market. - We believe in the importance of preparation for potential uphill climbs as well as the value in finding investments that raise their cash returns to shareholders.

07.02.2024

Sterling Capital Management LLC joins Guardian Capital Group Limited

Sterling Capital Management LLC announced today the completion of its acquisition by Guardian Capital LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of global asset manager Guardian Capital Group Limited.

07.02.2024

Sterling Capital joins Guardian Capital Group Limited

“We are thrilled to announce the completion of Sterling’s acquisition by Guardian Capital Group, a global asset manager. We are also thankful to join an organization that shares our culture and values in protecting our clients’ assets - and we are truly excited for our bright future together!” – Scott Haenni, Sr. Managing Director & CEO at Sterling Capital Management

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06.27.2024 • Jeffrey Ormsby, CFA®

Fixed Income and Federal Reserve Rate Cuts: How Should We Expect Fixed Income to Perform?

As one would expect, in most historical periods where interest rates were declining, fixed income total return has been good, with investors capturing the coupon income as well as benefiting from the increase in prices as rates fall. Looking at the history of the Bloomberg Aggregate Bond Index since 1988, in the previous five Federal Reserve (Fed) rate-cutting cycles, the index posted annualized returns averaging north of 8%.

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06.13.2024 • Andrew Richman, CTFA

When It Comes to Fed Policy, Follow the Data, Not the Dots

Andy Richman's update on the June Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

06.05.2024 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®

The Lead - "An Indicator of Business Confidence"

- Several notable companies have elected to inaugurate a quarterly dividend this year, while 47 companies in the U.S. stopped paying dividends during the COVID-19 crisis and have yet to reinstitute one. Why? - We would suggest it comes down to the ability to pay an ever-increasing dividend alongside their confidence in their business’s future. - In the current period of fewer dividend initiations, slower dividend growth in the market, and household names cutting their dividends, we believe there are several lessons to learn.

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