Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.
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| Statement |
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| And accordingly, we expect to benefit from high-quality equity market rallies, while protecting capital in times of uncertainty |
| We promoted an experienced portfolio manager internally to join the SMidCap strategy and the team is functioning exceptionally well and winning new business |
| The fund has benefited from good security selection and a shifting market preference to real estate preferred securities versus bank preferreds |
| We were gratified by the solid performance of our proprietary wealth strategies, which make investments consistent with the objectives of our high net worth clients |
| Our wealth management division had strong client retention and its best year of new business in many years with over $450 million of new and existing client assets |
| We firmly believe that our strategies are poised for success this year and beyond |
| So, meetings are picking up, RFPs have picked up, pipeline is good, and we're finally able to report some good wins to start the year |
| The pipeline remains strong and we have another pending SMid final decision in the next 30 days for a very large Fortune 100 company |
| We're sure excited about our progress and as I mentioned in the call, we've got a number of wins in our SMidCap product, actually five new clients that will be close to $400 million in new assets that will fund in the next 30 to 60 days |
| We'll continue to build on our SmallCap team's strong performance and the new business momentum in SMidCap |
| Several multi-asset strategies, income opportunity, total return, high income, and alternative income delivered strong Morningstar peer rankings in the top quartile for the fourth quarter |
| Our legacy strategies are built on strong long-term records and we expect to benefit from investors' growing willingness to invest sideline cash |
| The combination of strong performance and solid peer rankings, coupled with a positive view from prospects, should translate into continued interest in these strategies |
| Our financial position continues to be very solid with cash and short-term investments at quarter end totaling $53.1 million and a debt-free balance sheet |
| We were very pleased to welcome several multimillion-dollar relationships from these groups last year and our 2024 pipeline looks promising with many similar multimillion dollar opportunities |
| The year-end rally provided solid proof that investor sentiment was shifting into positive territory as many stocks and not just the Megacap Magnificent 7, posted new highs |
| They had great success creating an actively designed portfolio of creative solutions for clients in the wealth management, factor base, thematic, index alpha, and quantitatively managed sectors |
| Through the end of last year, Enhanced Balanced provided positive excess returns for most of the trailing time periods since inception |
| This trend is showing results in our healthy pipeline |
| So, that has been a huge lift for us |
| So, it's pretty exciting |
| We are hard at work building the analytical and operational support systems needed for this business and excited for the possibilities |
| As we see it, 2024 looks like an exciting year for Westwood |
| Our holistic wealth management services and ability to react nimbly to client needs is resonating well, particularly with younger, entrepreneurial, and family clients with assets between $10 million and $100 million |
| As we celebrate the 1-year anniversary of our Salient acquisition, one of the standouts has been the Westwood Salient Select Income Fund, which finished in the top decile for the quarter and well into the top quartile for the year |
| We're excited to establish what we hope is a strong first fund to build on for future fund offerings |
| Westwood's focus will remain on executing our investment disciplines and providing excellent client service |
| Our institutional pipeline expanded significantly in the second half of last year, and we had several institutional wins in the fourth quarter and again in January |
| So, we're excited about that |
| This strategy known as High Alpha, is in the first percentile of peers and has now completed a three-year record |
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| Summing up, last year's market environment of impending recession fears and competitive risk-free rate caused investors to pause, and overall industry activity slowed down |
| Flows for the year were still negative, but much of this was due to tax payments, pension fund payments, and client rebalancing |
| We had a single client loss last quarter as a result of a shift in strategy from active to passive |
| In fact, it was the second worst year for active equity mutual fund flows since they began keeping records |
| The US economy's surprising resilience underpin this shift in attitude but confidence in the Fed's next interest rate moves could challenge market sentiment |
| We believe that the fourth quarter points to changing investor attitudes, which should lead to new asset flows |
| Economic earnings were $5.2 million or $0.63 per share compared with economic losses of $0.7 million or $0.09 per share in the fourth quarter of 2022 |
| US Value products were mixed with strong performance in SmallCap value, while our other products struggled to keep up with the surging indices |
| This is a notable development given that for the last five years have seen outflows within the MLP and midstream energy asset class |
| Our US value strategies outperformed during market pullbacks, but struggled to keep up in market rallies |
| Our intermediary channel had net outflows of $168 million for the quarter, driven by outflows in tactical growth and income opportunity |
| Our institutional channel had net quarterly outflows of $122 million, mostly due to client rebalancing in our US value strategies and selected MLP redemptions |
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