Evidence from international and local studies indicates that the value investment style consistently earns returns above those of the growth investment style. The same principle seems to apply, in an international context, when using the glamour investment style, which is a sub-style of growth, as a comparative to value investing. This study aims to prove which style, value or glamour, outperforms the other thereby confirming or denying the presence of an international phenomenon in a South African context. This study replicates a two-variable method that was pioneered in the United States, to divide stocks into value and glamour portfolio’s each year. The portfolios were analysed using a five year buy-and-hold method after which the overall performance of the two portfolios was consolidated to determine which style outperformed the other. The results of the study indicate support of the international evidence with the local results in some respects achieving far greater returns using the value investment style. This presents an opportunity for private or institutional investors to achieve consistent and abnormal returns on the JSE. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

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Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2999-01-01

In this thesis we will evaluate the effectiveness of using daily return percentiles and power means as momentum indicators for quantitative portfolio selection. The statistical significance of momentum strategies has been well-established, but in this thesis we will select the portfolio size and holding period based on current (2012) trading costs and capital gains tax laws for an individual in the United States to ensure the viability of using these strategies. We conclude that the harmonic mean of daily returns is a superior momentum indicator for portfolio construction over the 1970-2011 backtest period.

Copy cat investment strategies exist in the US, where copy cat funds profitably replicate the investing behaviour of larger more renowned funds, leveraging off research completed by the initial fund, without incurring the same level of expenses. Funds, or unit trusts as they are known in South Africa, are mandated to disclose portfolio holdings quarterly, with the intention of enabling investors to track whether funds are meeting their stated objectives, through more frequent access to portfolio holdings. More frequent disclosure has lead to significant controversy internationally, with some researchers providing evidence that more frequent disclosure has lead to copy cat investing strategies. In contrast to the research completed in the US, copy cat funds in South Africa are able to generate similar returns, before costs, but once costs are included t-tests provided evidence that the copy cat fund was not able to generate significantly higher returns than the actual fund, particularly in the long run. These tests hold true when considering the whole general equity market, but interestingly do not hold statistically valid for every fund when considering them in isolation. Certain funds within the general equity classification offer potential for copy cat investing and have successfully proven outperformance in the last decade. Copy cat investors would need to seek out these funds based on the predicted outperformance of each fund, by considering the historical behaviour and then lastly by considering their own, already questionable, risk appetite. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This study contributes to the debate on active and passive portfolio management by providing an alternate means of constructing an active portfolio. This “fusion strategy” has underpinnings in the realm of behavioural finance, namely the value-growth phenomenon and the momentum effect. The fusion strategy developed in this study was compared against two passive benchmarks and four active benchmarks. All returns are calculated net of transaction costs, initially set to 1% per month per share. Statistical testing, done via stochastic dominance, yielded inconclusive results in the majority of cases. The exception however, was that Fund B stochastically dominated the fusion strategy at second order. This implies that a risk-averse investor would prefer to invest in Fund B. By the use of Sharpe and Treynor ratios, the results were also inconclusive. However, the Sortino ratio shows that the fusion strategy outperforms all benchmarks chosen, except Fund A. The performance of the fusion strategy was also not induced by either a sector rotation strategy, the existence of the January effect or by the level of transaction costs.