OSAM Founder Jim O’Shaughnessy to Retire at Year End

In some bittersweet news for me and our firm, founder Jim O’Shaughnessy will retire from O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, LLC (OSAM) on December 31, 2022. At the risk of stating the obvious, his influence extends far beyond me and our organization to the broader investment community.

Jim is widely recognized as a pioneer of quantitative equity analysis and one of America’s leading experts on investing. In his youth, he began tracking the earnings and valuations of the 30 companies comprising the Dow Jones Industrial Average with paper and pencil. Not long after graduating from the University of Minnesota, he got his start advising pension funds and foundations on market strategy, founding predecessor firm O’Shaughnessy Capital Management in 1987 and subsequently O’Shaughnessy Asset Management in 2007.

Jim led the early development of our factor-based investment strategies and helped build a team of quantitative experts that continues to advance our organization. Our philosophy is rooted in a fundamental belief that factors drive equity market returns and should be applied from the bottom up to build disciplined, time-tested, and rules-based portfolios.

Jim is also the author of four books on investing, including The New York Times bestseller What Works on Wall Street (1996), which Financial Analysts’ Journal called, “indisputably a major contribution to empirical research on the behavior of common stocks in the United States.” The numerous accolades throughout his career are most deserved, and it’s been a joy to work beside him.

Among Jim’s most important contributions to the firm is building a strong team with deep dedication to our factor-based investment process. With his retirement from OSAM, Co-Chief Investment Officer Chris Meredith, CFA, will assume full responsibility on January 1, 2023, of the CIO role he’s shared with Jim since 2019. Chris joined the team in 2005 and for years has been instrumental in leading and cultivating the investment talent that executes OSAM’s disciplined, quantitative, and team-driven approach. As a result, our investment process will not change.

As Jim moves on to his next adventures, I am excited to announce two important appointments:

• Roger Paradiso, Head of Franklin Templeton Product Solutions, will assume the role of OSAM Executive Chairman while maintaining his position at Franklin. Roger spearheaded the acquisition of OSAM, and the leadership team has reported to him since then. Roger has decades of experience with innovation in the advisory space and scaling businesses within larger organizations which he will use to help direct resources in the areas of data, technology, and distribution to augment OSAM’s capabilities.
• Rajat Gupta, Senior Vice President, Franklin Templeton Technology, will assume the role of OSAM Chief Technology Officer while maintaining his position at Franklin. Rajat has spent the majority of his career working throughout Franklin Templeton and brings close to 30 years of management and engineering experience. He will lead OSAM’s programming team on a range of initiatives including the continued development of our Canvas® platform.

Roger and Rajat bring a depth of experience and leadership that will benefit our clients and help take our business to the next level. Finally, though Jim will officially be departing OSAM at year end, you will not miss hearing from him as he plans to continue his all-around love of discussing life and investing through podcasting, his Twitter presence, and other personal ventures.

On behalf of OSAM and investors abound, we sincerely thank Jim for all that he has given to the firm and community and wish him our very best.

Patrick

GENERAL LEGAL DISCLOSURES & HYPOTHETICAL AND/OR BACKTESTED RESULTS DISCLAIMER

The material contained herein is intended as a general market commentary. Opinions expressed herein are solely those of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, LLC and may differ from those of your broker or investment firm. 

Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended or undertaken by O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, LLC), or any non-investment related content, made reference to directly or indirectly in this piece will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions. Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this piece serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, LLC. Any individual account performance information reflects the reinvestment of dividends (to the extent applicable), and is net of applicable transaction fees, O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, LLC’s investment management fee (if debited directly from the account), and any other related account expenses. Account information has been compiled solely by O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, LLC, has not been independently verified, and does not reflect the impact of taxes on non-qualified accounts. In preparing this report, O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, LLC has relied upon information provided by the account custodian. Please defer to formal tax documents received from the account custodian for cost basis and tax reporting purposes. Please remember to contact O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, LLC, in writing, if there are any changes in your personal/financial situation or investment objectives for the purpose of reviewing/evaluating/revising our previous recommendations and/or services, or if you want to impose, add, or modify any reasonable restrictions to our investment advisory services. Please Note: Unless you advise, in writing, to the contrary, we will assume that there are no restrictions on our services, other than to manage the account in accordance with your designated investment objective. Please Also Note: Please compare this statement with account statements received from the account custodian. The account custodian does not verify the accuracy of the advisory fee calculation. Please advise us if you have not been receiving monthly statements from the account custodian. Historical performance results for investment indices and/or categories have been provided for general comparison purposes only, and generally do not reflect the deduction of transaction and/or custodial charges, the deduction of an investment management fee, nor the impact of taxes, the incurrence of which would have the effect of decreasing historical performance results. It should not be assumed that your account holdings correspond directly to any comparative indices. To the extent that a reader has any questions regarding the applicability of any specific issue discussed above to his/her individual situation, he/she is encouraged to consult with the professional advisor of his/her choosing. O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, LLC is neither a law firm nor a certified public accounting firm and no portion of the newsletter content should be construed as legal or accounting advice. A copy of the O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, LLC’s current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request.

The risk-free rate used in the calculation of Sortino, Sharpe, and Treynor ratios is 5%, consistently applied across time.

The universe of All Stocks consists of all securities in the Chicago Research in Security Prices (CRSP) dataset or S&P Compustat Database (or other, as noted) with inflation-adjusted market capitalization greater than $200 million as of most recent year-end. The universe of Large Stocks consists of all securities in the Chicago Research in Security Prices (CRSP) dataset or S&P Compustat Database (or other, as noted) with inflation-adjusted market capitalization greater than the universe average as of most recent year-end. The stocks are equally weighted and generally rebalanced annually.

Hypothetical performance results shown on the preceding pages are backtested and do not represent the performance of any account managed by OSAM, but were achieved by means of the retroactive application of each of the previously referenced models, certain aspects of which may have been designed with the benefit of hindsight.

The hypothetical backtested performance does not represent the results of actual trading using client assets nor decision-making during the period and does not and is not intended to indicate the past performance or future performance of any account or investment strategy managed by OSAM. If actual accounts had been managed throughout the period, ongoing research might have resulted in changes to the strategy which might have altered returns. The performance of any account or investment strategy managed by OSAM will differ from the hypothetical backtested performance results for each factor shown herein for a number of reasons, including without limitation the following:

• Although OSAM may consider from time to time one or more of the factors noted herein in managing any account, it may not consider all or any of such factors. OSAM may (and will) from time to time consider factors in addition to those noted herein in managing any account.
• OSAM may rebalance an account more frequently or less frequently than annually and at times other than presented herein.
• OSAM may from time to time manage an account by using non-quantitative, subjective investment management methodologies in conjunction with the application of factors.
• The hypothetical backtested performance results assume full investment, whereas an account managed by OSAM may have a positive cash position upon rebalance. Had the hypothetical backtested performance results included a positive cash position, the results would have been different and generally would have been lower.
• The hypothetical backtested performance results for each factor do not reflect any transaction costs of buying and selling securities, investment management fees (including without limitation management fees and performance fees), custody and other costs, or taxes – all of which would be incurred by an investor in any account managed by OSAM. If such costs and fees were reflected, the hypothetical backtested performance results would be lower.
• The hypothetical performance does not reflect the reinvestment of dividends and distributions therefrom, interest, capital gains and withholding taxes.
• Accounts managed by OSAM are subject to additions and redemptions of assets under management, which may positively or negatively affect performance depending generally upon the timing of such events in relation to the market’s direction.
• Simulated returns may be dependent on the market and economic conditions that existed during the period. Future market or economic conditions can adversely affect the returns.

Please Note: Socially Responsible Investing Limitations. Socially Responsible Investing involves the incorporation of Environmental, Social and Governance considerations into the investment due diligence process (“ESG). There are potential limitations associated with allocating a portion of an investment portfolio in ESG securities (i.e., securities that have a mandate to avoid, when possible, investments in such products as alcohol, tobacco, firearms, oil drilling, gambling, etc.). The number of these securities may be limited when compared to those that do not maintain such a mandate. ESG securities could underperform broad market indices. Investors must accept these limitations, including potential for underperformance. Correspondingly, the number of ESG mutual funds and exchange traded funds are few when compared to those that do not maintain such a mandate. As with any type of investment (including any investment and/or investment strategies recommended and/or undertaken by OSAM), there can be no assurance that investment in ESG securities or funds will be profitable, or prove successful.