Missed the surge in A-shares, bought high and lost money again, what is it like to hold such a fund?

On October 18, reporters learned that Dacheng National Security and Dacheng Leading Power, two funds under Dacheng Fund, have suffered net value losses of over 13% since September 24 (as of October 17), making them the actively managed equity funds with the most losses in this round of A-shares surge. Both funds' net values fluctuated significantly after the A-shares market fluctuated and adjusted on October 8, attracting market attention.

Data shows that the fund manager for both Dacheng National Security and Dacheng Leading Power is Wang Shuai, who has been managing public funds since 2021 and currently manages four funds. According to the data at the end of the second quarter, his heavy stocks are mainly concentrated in the technology industry.

Missed the surge, encountered a sharp decline

After a series of policy stimuli on September 24, A-shares surged in volume until October 8. Driven by the surge, the net value trend of many equity funds rose sharply.

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Data shows that from September 24 to October 17, the net value of more than 30 funds increased by more than 50% during the period (calculated separately by share, the same below). Mainly passive index funds, more than 700 funds increased by more than 30% during the period.

However, while many equity funds are making a lot of money, some equity funds have suffered net value losses during the period, with a total of 25 funds losing more than 5%.

Among them, Dacheng National Security A/C net value loss exceeded 15%, Dacheng Leading Power A/C net value loss exceeded 13%, and these two funds are also the actively managed equity funds with the highest net value loss during the period. At the same time, Dacheng National Security A/C period yield lagged behind the performance benchmark by more than 30%, Dacheng Leading Power A/C period yield lagged behind the performance benchmark by more than 25%.

The main reason for the above phenomenon is that A-shares fluctuated and adjusted after October 8, and some funds may have bought at a higher position.

Data shows that Dacheng National Security was established in May 2016 and is a flexible allocation fund managed by fund manager Wang Shuai. According to the fund contract, the fund's stock position range is 0% to 95%.The fund's net value trend was relatively stable in the three months prior to October this year, avoiding market fluctuations and adjustments. The daily net value fluctuations were mainly within 1%, with no significant volatility. At the end of the second quarter, the proportion of stocks in the fund's total assets was only 0.97%. Combined with the net value trend, it is highly likely that the fund operated with an extremely low stock position in the third quarter.

It was not until after October 8th that the net value of Da Cheng National Security showed significant fluctuations, with a sharp downward trend, indicating that the fund manager may have adjusted the position. Data shows that from October 8th to October 11th, the fund's single-day maximum net value decline exceeded 6%, with two trading days seeing a net value decline of more than 5%.

Da Cheng National Security did not "fall" during market downturns but "fell" after the market surged. In response, there have been voices in the market suggesting that the fund "missed out" while also buying high.

The net value of Da Cheng Leading Power, managed by Wang Shuai, also showed significant fluctuations after October 8th. The fund was established in August 2024 and is a new fund. It is worth mentioning that the fund ended its fundraising ahead of schedule on August 26th, with the original deadline for fundraising being October 25th.

Ending the fundraising early not only failed to catch the surge in the market but also resulted in losses. Data shows that Da Cheng Leading Power began to disclose its net value from September 30th. The net value slightly declined on October 8th, plummeted by more than 6% on October 9th, and saw a significant decline of more than 5% on both October 10th and October 11th.

Wang Shuai's short-term performance is hard to convince the public. Some investors expressed in the discussion area of the distribution platform that the fund company should explain the abnormal situation and give an account to the investors. There are also investors who came because of the fund manager's "famous" performance.

Why did the fund manager buy high?

In fact, in addition to the aforementioned funds managed by Wang Shuai, there are several flexible allocation funds in the market that also failed to catch the surge of the "924" round due to their low stock positions. At the same time, they were late to buy high, leading to a decline in net value at the forefront.For such phenomena, Han Wei, Managing Director of Tai Shi Investment, believes that fund managers who typically have very light stock positions are, on one hand, deeply influenced by bearish factors and are quite resolute in their bearish views. On the other hand, the ranking improvement brought about by being almost fully invested in the early stage leads to a significant behavioral inertia. When encountering a rapid reversal market like "924," fund managers, after missing the opportunity, see their rankings plummet quickly. In order to preserve the ranking advantage from the early period before the end of the year, it is not surprising that fund managers exhibit a phenomenon of chasing highs.

"In the early stage of the '924' market, the market presented a rare opportunity where the valuation bottom, policy bottom, and sentiment bottom coincided and overlapped significantly. Undoubtedly, the optimal strategy was to buy decisively and quickly. However, in the later stage of the market, some bubble stocks also began to soar, and investors should be cautious to distinguish and must not chase these stocks with a speculative mindset," Han Wei analyzed.

After this round of sharp increases and subsequent market fluctuations, many investors have begun to pay attention to the market-timing abilities of fund managers. Han Wei stated that if fund managers truly possess market-timing abilities and can bring long-term excess returns to fund holders, it is certainly a good thing. However, in reality, from a global perspective, fund managers who truly have market-timing abilities are as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. Instead, fund managers who focus on value investing will significantly reduce their positions when the market shows systematic bubble trends, demonstrating the "market-timing" effect at a higher and more certain level.

Han Wei also stated that evaluating a fund manager should be based on a long-term cycle of at least five years. Success and failure are common in the field of investment, and one should not judge a hero based on one or two short-term investment mistakes.

Members of the "Old Ten" Slightly Lagging Behind

Data shows that fund manager Wang Shuai joined Dacheng Fund in 2019 and began managing public funds in 2021. Currently, he manages four funds, and as of October 17th, the three funds with calculable annual returns all have negative numbers, among which, the net value loss of Dacheng National Security exceeds 15%.

Looking at the three funds that have disclosed their semi-annual reports, Wang Shuai's investment strategy tends to favor high-growth sectors. He stated in the semi-annual report that, specifically in the direction of the technology industry, deep domestication areas such as advanced process semiconductor equipment, competitive investments centered around AI (especially the deployment of computing power both domestically and internationally), large-sized LCD panels with continuously optimized supply environments, and ideal competitive landscape of telecommunications operators all have investment value from a medium to long-term perspective. The stocks he heavily invested in during the first half of the year were also mainly technology stocks, including many companies with the prefix "China."

Dacheng Fund, where Wang Shuai is affiliated, was established in 1999 and is one of the "Old Ten" public fund companies in the industry. As of the end of the second quarter of this year, the company's public fund management scale is close to 300 billion yuan, among which, the scale of equity and hybrid funds are 14.413 billion yuan and 64.938 billion yuan, respectively.

Compared with other "Old Ten" public fund companies, Dacheng Fund has slightly fallen behind. The latest public fund management scale is only higher than Changsheng Fund. The latest public fund management scales of Nanfang, Huaxia, and Bosera Funds have all exceeded one trillion yuan, while Jiashi, Guotai, Huaan Funds, and other companies have all exceeded 500 billion yuan.