Legg Mason Japan Equity is the top performing Japan fund over one, three and five years returning 79.84%, 162.12% and 194.1% over each timeframe respectively.
Meanwhile, Aberdeen Japan Growth has also brought investors healthy gains, featuring in the top five performing funds for the sector over both three and five years.
It has returned 44.86% over the three-year period, far lower than Legg Mason’s effort but still not exactly shabby, and 70.52% over five years.
true
Crucially, Aberdeen Japan Growth has provided investors with top-five in sector gains while holding the top position as the least volatile fund in the sector over both periods.
Legg Mason Japan Equity, on the other hand has been the most volatile fund over one, three and five years.
Risk vs. reward
Legg Mason Japan Equity has displayed volatility of 24.74% over five years, compared with 14.84% from Aberdeen Japan Growth – the highest and lowest volatility in the sector respectively.
Similarly, over three years the Legg Mason fund’s volatility score is 23.58% versus 12.18% from Aberdeen’s fund – again, the highest and lowest in the sector.
The Legg Mason Fund has 30% invested in healthcare and 25% invested in consumer products, while its third largest sector exposure is to TMT. Aberdeen’s fund, has a 33.8% weighting to consumer products, 19.4% to industrials and 12.45 to healthcare.
Both funds were launched in the 1990s, with Aberdeen’s the elder of the two launched in 1992, versus Legg Mason’s launch in 1996.
According to FE the Legg Mason fund has taken considerably more risk than the sector average over the past year, while the Aberdeen fund has taken considerably less risk than the sector average over the same period.
So which would you pick? Let us know in the comments box below…
