Media Contact: Shirley Hancock
Shirley.Hancock@comcast.net
503.781.4234
Farming on Wall Street with Jeff Auxier
Harvest Time on Auxier Farms Yields Profits and Emerging Food Trends for the Founder of the Auxier Focus Fund
LAKE OSWEGO, OR–Jeff Auxier, one of Wall Street’s most tenured fund managers and market historians has another job, where the dress code is Carhartts and cowboy hats, and the ride to work is from the seat of a 30,000 pound John Deere tractor.
Auxier is founder of the Auxier Focus Fund and also operates a hazelnut, cattle and timber operation, a few winding miles from the end of the Oregon Trail. It is the epi-center for 97 percent of the premium hazelnuts grown in the United States.
From this bucolic landscape, Auxier enjoys a “boots on the ground” view of early market trends. “Farming puts you at the bottom,” says Auxier. “You witness the actual interactions along the food chain—transportation, input costs, fuel, equipment, demands, and commodities.” What he sees from the farm is a microcosm of early food trends, including a skyrocketing global demand for higher quality foods from the emerging middle classes. For instance:
- Hazelnuts: Recently Auxier harvested over 55 tons—up 20 percent– of high-quality hazelnuts that are now on their way to Asia—and nutella!
- Cattle: Auxier’s high quality, grass-fed (as opposed to grain fed) cows are in demand. Korea is a new market and free trade agreements elsewhere look promising. In China, food and water safety are the country’s biggest issues.
“Powerful trend toward higher quality food and nutrition may be a solution to skyrocketing health care costs.” Auxier believes Americans suffer from serious mineral deficiencies. He says this growing awareness and a demand for higher quality food, could take a 20 percent bite out of our health care costs.
Jeff can also discuss:
- How he’s capitalizing on overseas markets.
- The low cost of communications allows people to see how others live, fueling aspirational desires.
- New challenges for farmers.
- hjHis deep-rooted investment philosophy.
- Why he believes investors are missing out on the European crisis.
- His love affair with the tortoise stocks.
- Why so few managers invest in their own funds.
- The impending bond bubble.
- Why he believes higher interest rates will not kill the economy.
Auxier uses many of the same skills to operate his Fund as he does the farm. “The key to investing is you have to be a voracious learning machine. I try to spend eight hours a day going through hundreds of pages of research. You need the same tenacity, dedication and humility in farming. There’s not a lot of ego there, you just constantly have to get the job done on a day to day basis.”
Auxier Focus Fund Performance:
- Up 167.04% since inception (7/9/1999 – 9/30/2013 cumulative)
- Outperformed S&P 500 Index by 110.73 percentage points. (As of 9/30/2013 and since inception 7/9/1999)
Average Annual Returns for the period ended 9/30/2013
| 1 Year | 3 Year | 5 Year | 10 Year | Since Inception (07/9/99) | Cumulative Since Inception | |
| Auxier Focus Fund (Investor Shares) | 15.26% | 11.62% | 9.13% | 7.66% | 7.15% | 167.04% |
| S&P 500 Index | 19.34% | 16.27% | 10.02% | 7.57% | 3.19% | 56.31% |
Performance data quoted represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than original cost. As stated in the current prospectus, the Investor Class Share’s annual operating expense ratio (gross) is 1.29%. The Adviser has contractually agreed to reduce a portion of its fee and reimburse Fund expenses to limit Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses to 1.25% through at least October 31, 2015. Other share classes may vary. The Fund charges a 2.0% redemption fee on shares redeemed within six months of purchase. For the most recent month-end performance, please call (877) 328-9437 or visit the Fund’s website, www.auxierasset.com. The recent growth in the stock market has helped to produce short-term returns that are not typical and may not continue in the future.
- Outperformed 62% of Morningstar Peers. (As of 9/30/2013 in its 5 year Morningstar Large Value category. The Fund’s 1, 3, 5 and 10 year Morningstar rankings are, respectively, 1092 out of 1192 funds; 980 out of 1043; 350 out of 926 funds; and 244 out of 608 funds. Morningstar rankings are based on a fund’s total return performance. Past performance is not an indicator of future results.)
- 5 Stars for 5 Year (5 Year–out of 926 funds; 4 Stars for Overall Performance–out of 1,043 funds and 10 year–out of 608 funds)
For media: Shirley Hancock, shirley.hancock@comcast.net, 503.781.4234
For other questions about Auxier Asset Mgt. and the Auxier Focus Fund:
Lillian Widolff, lwidolff@auxierasset.com, 800.835.9556 extension 14
Website: www.auxierasset.com
Office: Phone: 800.835.9556
The Auxier Difference—Auxier has been the only manager of the Fund since inception in 1999 and has more than 30 years of investment management experience, including more than 45,000 hours as a business analyst. Auxier has skillfully guided his investors through the 1983 PC bubble, 1987 crash, 1980’s thrift crisis and more. He remains one of his Fund’s largest individual shareholders, investing his entire personal retirement, and will not sell a single share while still manager. Auxier deliberately lives and works far from the herd mentality on Wall Street, on a profitable cattle, timber and hazelnut farm near the end of the Oregon Trail. This lifestyle, says Jeff, keeps him humble and focused on his investors.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE
Before investing you should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information is in the prospectus, a copy of which may be obtained by calling (877) 328-9437 or visiting the Fund’s website. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest.
The Fund may invest in value stocks, which are subject to risk that their intrinsic value may never be realized, and growth stocks, which may be susceptible to rapid price swings. Investments in mid-sized companies generally carry greater risk than is customarily associated with larger companies. Moreover, if the Fund’s portfolio is overweighed in a sector, any negative development affecting that sector will have a greater impact on the Fund than a fund that is not overweighed in that sector. An increase in interest rates typically causes a fall in the value of a debt security (Fixed-Income Securities Risk) with corresponding changes to the Fund’s value. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks including international trade, currency, political, regulatory and diplomatic risks. There can be no guarantee of success with any technique, strategy, or investment. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal.
The S&P 500 Index is a broad-based, unmanaged measurement of changes in stock market conditions based on 500 widely held common stocks. One cannot invest directly in an index.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating™ based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund’s monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads, and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its 3-, 5- and 10-year Morningstar Rating metrics.
For the period ending 9/30/13 the Auxier Focus Fund was rated against the following numbers of Large Value funds over the following time periods: 1043 funds in the overall and last three years, 926 funds in the last five years, and 608 in the last 10 years. With respect to these Large Value funds, the Fund received a Morningstar Rating of 4 starts for the Overall Rating, 2 stars for the three-year period, 5 stars for the five-year period, and 4 starts for the ten-year period. This Morningstar Rating is for the Investor Class shares only.
Copyright © 2013 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information.
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