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Davis Global Is Aggressive but Not Irresponsible

Davis Global Is Aggressive but Not Irresponsible

Alec Lucas: Bronze-rated Davis Global's risks have to come the fore of late, but the fund remains a promising long-term option. The fund is aggressive but not irresponsible. Veteran manager Danton Goei builds a benchmark-agnostic portfolio of about 50 stocks that combines steadier names, like Berkshire Hathaway with firms spending cash flow almost as fast as they generate it to grow their businesses, such as Amazon.com and China's ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, a private and more illiquid holding.

Goei's willingness to invest in private companies and overweight Chinese stocks differentiate this fund from itself typical world large-stock Morningstar Category peer. Many of the Chinese stocks that helped the fund to a top-decile, calendar-year finish in 2017 have contributed to its bottom-decile, year-to-date showing in 2018. Throughout his career, Goei has shown good judgment overall in adding to positions on weakness and that's helped the fund rebound from past disappointments, such as underperformance during the 2015-16 correction. Fundholders, though, must have a stomach for volatility to benefit here.

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Alec Lucas

Director of Manager Research
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Alec Lucas is director of manager research, active funds research, for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. He is a voting member of the Morningstar Medalist Ratings Committee for U.S. and international fixed-income strategies, covers fixed-income strategies from asset managers such as Baird and American Funds.

Lucas is also active in parent research. He is a voting member of the U.S. parent ratings committee and previously served as the lead analyst for Franklin Templeton, Capital Group, and Vanguard, among other firms.

Lucas was a strategist on Morningstar's equity strategies team prior to assuming his current role in June 2022. He covered equity strategies from asset managers such as Primecap and American Funds and received the 2019 Citywire Professional Buyer Rising Star Award.

Before joining Morningstar in 2013, Lucas worked as a minister as well as a professor for Loyola University Chicago, among other institutions. From 2010 to 2011, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Heidelberg.

Lucas holds bachelor's degrees in philosophy and classics from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he graduated summa cum laude and with departmental honors, and a Master of Divinity, summa cum laude, from Trinity International University. He also holds a doctorate in theology, with distinction, from Loyola University Chicago and has published several articles and one book within that field.

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