Sundaram Select Midcap: Recommended for long term investors

Sundaram Select Midcap is an open ended catered for investors seeking mid cap exposure. Launched in 2002, this fund has a decade long track record for the investors to gauge its performance. Being a consistent performer this fund is suitable for investors having long-term investment horizon, reckons Arnav Pandya.

• This is a fund that is focused on the mid cap space and it has a decade long track record of its performance and history for the investor to consider. At the end of March 2011 the fund had the highest exposure to consumer goods at 16 per cent of the portfolio followed by financial services at 14 per cent and fertilisers and chemicals at 13 per cent.  The top holdings in the fund were around the 5 per cent mark. IPCA labs, Indusind Bank, Coromandel Fertilisers, Indraprashta Gas, Trent, Petronet LNG and SRF were some of the top holdings in the portfolio. The fund had a portfolio turnover ratio of more than 100 per cent. The benchmark for the fund was the BSE Mid cap Index and it was an outperformer over the one, three and five year time periods.
• Six months later, consumer goods retained their top spot in the portfolio with an 18 per cent share. Fertilisers and chemicals, auto ancillaries and energy utilities were some of the other top sectors. Indraprastha Gas with a 5.5 per cent share was the top individual holding in the portfolio. Trent, IPCA labs, Coromandel Fertilisers, Fag Bearings, Petronet LNG,Bosch and SRF were some of the other top holdings. The portfolio turnover ratio fell dramatically to less than 60 per cent. The fund remained an outperformer over the one, three and five year time period.
• There were small changes in the portfolio at the end of March 2012. Consumer goods continued to be the top sector followed by auto ancillaries, fertilisers and chemicals and financial services. IPCA labs was the top individual holding followed by FAG bearings, Indraprastha Gas, United Spirits, Bosch, Petronet LNG and Raymond. The funds outperformance over all time periods continued.
• Six months later, financial services had climbed to the top of the sector holdings list with a share of 18 per cent in the portfolio. Auto ancillaries, consumer goods and fertilisers and chemicals were some of the other top sectors. The turnover ratio remained below 50 per cent while IPCA labs saw its share in the portfolio go above 7 per cent. FAG Bearings, Bosch, Indraprastha Gas, Amara Raja, Coromandel Fertilisers, Bajaj Finserv and Satyam Computers were some of the other leading stocks in the portfolio.  The fund remained a comfortable outperformer over the one, three and five year time periods.
• By the end of February 2013, financial services had increased its share in the portfolio to around 21 per cent. Auto ancillaries, consumer goods and Pharma were some of the other top sectors in the portfolio. IPCA labs remained the top individual holding followed by FAG Bearings, Amara Raja, Bosch, Indraprastha Gas, Karur Vysya Bank, Bajaj Finance and Satyam Computers. The fund was a marginal underperformer over the one year period but and outperformer over the three and five year one.
• The fund has been a consistent performer over the past several years and hence it can form a part of the portfolio of an investor looking to take an exposure to the mid cap space. Investors should be willing to wait patiently for the various holdings to show their results and hence a longer term outlook for the investment is essential.