A Wide-Moat Strategy on Our Radar

Greg Carlson: Mar Vista Strategic Growth is a fund that's on our radar. Now, this is a large-cap growth strategy. The mutual fund itself has been around for less than five years; however, the same team has been running (the strategy) since 2004. The team of four has worked together for more than a decade and started its own firm in 2007.

They run a compact portfolio of 30 to 50 stocks. And they seek out companies with durable competitive advantages or wide economic moats as well as high returns on invested capital. They tend to hold on to their picks for the long haul.

The strategy typically doesn't do well in speculative rallies; however, it more than holds its own in sideways or declining markets and still generated excellent risk-adjusted returns over the long haul. The minimum investment here is rather high at $25,000. The fund itself is quite small. So, fees are above average now but we would expect them to decline over the long term.