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Total Return Fund (OSTRX)

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2021 IG Outlook: Despite Headwinds, a Path Forward Exists

As the new year begins, the investment grade (IG) market faces multiple challenges, including a recovering economy, low yields, tight spreads, and record high duration. At the same time, market technicals remain favorable, fundamentals are improving, and there are attractive sectors in the index. Overall, we are modestly bullish about 2021 and feel there are compelling opportunities for those who know where to look.
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Morningstar Rating

★★★★ Ratings Information
Rated 4 Stars over 3 years and Overall in the Nontraditional Bond Category

Fund Literature

Investment Objective

The Fund seeks to preserve capital and attain long-term total returns through a combination of current income and moderate capital appreciation.

Investment Strategy

The Fund invests primarily in investment-grade securities and employs tactical shifts in sector allocation, interest rate/yield curve risk and credit quality, attempting to capture return across credit, interest rate and volatility cycles.

Highlights

  • Investment-grade, U.S. dollar-based, absolute return-oriented strategy
  • Ability to manage and hedge duration based on market conditions
  • Portfolio construction and rebalancing are driven by investment decisions, not benchmark changes
  • Expert portfolio management team has extensive experience investing in corporate, securitized and interest rate products
  • Adviser is majority-owned by its employees

Minimum Investments

  • $5,000 initial investment for regular accounts
  • $1,500 initial investment for IRA or other tax-deferred accounts
  • $100 for subsequent investments

NAV as of 2/26/21

Price $10.20 Change $0.03

Fund Facts

Ticker OSTRX
CUSIP 74316P736
Inception Date 12/30/2016
Load None
12b-1 Fees None
Redemption Fee None
Net Assets
(as of 1/31/21) 		$219 million
Fiscal Year Turnover
(as of 3/31/20) 		214%
Gross Expense Ratio
(as of 3/31/20) 		0.67%

Philosophy

We believe the investment grade universe provides a rich, evolving set of opportunities to generate uncorrelated returns through active management. We further believe that passive and relative return fixed income strategies can pose unintended risks and that hedging strategies can be used selectively to insulate investment returns.

Through active duration management, sector allocation and security selection, the Total Return strategy aims to achieve consistent returns in a benchmark-agnostic context in both up and down markets.

New
Blog

Total Return Perspectives: January 2021

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Podcast

Money Life with Chuck Jaffe: Interview with Eddy Vataru

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Investment Team

Eddy Vataru Eddy Vataru

Eddy Vataru

Chief Investment Officer – Total Return

Eddy Vataru

Eddy Vataru

Chief Investment Officer – Total Return

Eddy Vataru graduated from California Institute of Technology (B.S. Chemistry & Economics) and from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis (M.B.A.). Mr. Vataru holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Prior to joining Osterweis Capital Management in 2016, Mr. Vataru worked in senior management positions at Incapture, LLC and Citadel, LLC. Before that he spent over 11 years at BlackRock (formerly Barclays Global Investors), where his last position was as Managing Director and Head of U.S. Rates and Mortgages. While in this role, BGI worked with the U.S. Treasury in implementing its Agency MBS Purchase Program, buying mortgages for the U.S. government from 2008-2009.

Over the course of his career as a fixed income investor, Mr. Vataru has developed extensive experience in managing passive, active and hedge fund portfolios.

Mr. Vataru is a principal of the firm and the lead Portfolio Manager for the total return fixed income strategy. He is also a Portfolio Manager for the flexible balanced strategy.

John Sheehan John Sheehan

John Sheehan

Vice President & Portfolio Manager

John Sheehan

John Sheehan

Vice President & Portfolio Manager

John Sheehan graduated from Georgetown University (B.A. Economics). Mr. Sheehan holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Prior to joining Osterweis Capital Management in 2018, Mr. Sheehan spent more than 20 years working at Citigroup, first as Managing Director responsible for Investment Grade Syndicate in New York City, where he advised issuers on accessing funding in the corporate bond market. Later at Citigroup, he was Managing Director in charge of West Coast Investment Grade Sales in San Francisco, where he covered several of the largest U.S. investment grade credit investors.

Mr. Sheehan is a principal of the firm and a Portfolio Manager for the total return fixed income strategy.

Daniel Oh Daniel Oh

Daniel Oh

Vice President & Portfolio Manager

Daniel Oh

Daniel Oh

Vice President & Portfolio Manager

Daniel Oh graduated from Columbia University (B.A. Economics/Political Science) and from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan (M.B.A.).

Prior to joining Osterweis Capital Management in 2018, Mr. Oh spent over eight years as a Director at Estabrook Capital Management in New York City and was the lead Portfolio Manager of the Estabrook Investment Grade Fixed Income Fund. Before that he was at Merrill Lynch & Co. as an Associate in Prime/Alt-A-Non-Agency Mortgage Trading. Prior to that he held positions at Seneca Financial Group and Morgan Stanley.

Mr. Oh’s professional history includes experience in investment grade corporate credit, whole loan mortgages, structured finance and distressed investments.

Mr. Oh is a principal of the firm and a Portfolio Manager for the total return fixed income strategy.

The Morningstar Rating™ for funds, or “star rating,” is calculated for mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product’s monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods.

© 2021 Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Diversification does not guarantee a profit or protect from loss in a declining market.

The Osterweis Funds are available by prospectus only. The Funds’ investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses must be considered carefully before investing. The summary and statutory prospectuses contain this and other important information about the Funds. You may obtain a summary or statutory prospectus by calling toll free at (866) 236-0050, or by visiting www.osterweis.com/statpro. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing to ensure the Fund is appropriate for your goals and risk tolerance.

Mutual fund investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible.

The Osterweis Total Return Fund may invest in fixed income securities which are subject to credit, default, extension, interest rate and prepayment risks. It may also make investments in derivatives that may involve certain costs and risks such as liquidity, interest rate, market, credit, management and the risk that a position could not be closed when most advantageous. The Fund may invest in in debt securities that are un-rated or rated below investment grade. Lower-rated securities may present an increased possibility of default, price volatility or illiquidity compared to higher-rated securities. Investments in foreign and emerging market securities involve greater volatility and political, economic and currency risks and differences in accounting methods. These risks may increase for emerging markets. Leverage may cause the effect of an increase or decrease in the value of the portfolio securities to be magnified and the fund to be more volatile than if leverage was not used. Investments in preferred securities have an inverse relationship with changes in the prevailing interest rate. Investments in Asset Backed and Mortgage Backed Securities include additional risks that investors should be aware of such as credit risk, prepayment risk, possible illiquidity and default, as well as increased susceptibility to adverse economic developments. It may also make investments in derivatives that may involve certain costs and risks such as liquidity, interest rate, market, credit, management and the risk that a position could not be closed when most advantageous. The Fund may invest in municipal securities which are subject to the risk of default.

While the fund is no-load, management fees and other expenses still apply. Please refer to the prospectus for more information.

Osterweis Capital Management is the adviser to the Osterweis Funds, which are distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC.