Investment Solutions

Stock Strategies

 

Seeking to control risk without sacrificing performance is at the foundation of our investment philosophy. The flexibility to adapt to a changing financial landscape involves a keen eye on technical and economic indicators and a comprehensive, multidimensional approach to risk management.

Unlike traditional stock portfolio’s, we can move into short-term cash positions when our maximum drawdown indicators for each stock position are triggered and use ETFs for broad diversification when needed. Our goal is to provide the best possible risk-adjusted returns while avoiding unnecessary or unplanned risks.

It’s not what you make, it’s what you keep. The benefit of our stock strategies is we can move to cash or other instruments, such as commodities or bonds when necessary. We believe this flexibility is important when keeping an eye on risk, and encourages investors to stay the course with drastic market swings. 

Meridith L. Hutchens

Founder

The strategy uses a research-intensive approach to build a concentrated portfolio of high-conviction ideas with a multi-year time horizon.

Our stock selection process uses a top-down approach by applying proprietary technical risk analysis, allowing the portfolio to raise its cash position when the risk temperature is too high. Industry-leading companies are selected based upon a proprietary scoring methodology emphasizing strong balance sheets, long-term price to sales ratios, and attractive valuations.

Companies are primarily large-cap with occasional mid-cap exposure. Target weighting of 2% – 4% per position, and there is no maximum or minimum stock or cash allocation restriction. While unlikely given the current configuration, the model could allocate 100% to cash.

Fortis proprietary indicators guide investment decisions for the strategy by measuring the overall technical health of the market, macroeconomic conditions, and investor sentiment to determine the allocations to stocks vs. cash equivalents.

Next, a top-down analysis to determine sector allocations is based on advanced trend, breadth, and drawdown potential to rank the risk/reward potential. A more in-depth proprietary analysis is applied at the industry and sub-industry level to determine style and size, to determine the final forty stocks.

No more than 30% of the portfolio will contain small-cap stocks, and no more than 45% of the allocation will allocate to information technology. Strict entry and exit price targets are set and monitored for each position.

Over the last century, the United States has seen various stock market crashes – all which have fully recovered in less than 5-years. In fact, some of these crashes paved the way for strong bull markets. Our Fortis Marathon Strategy was created to capitalize on these historic trends and is intended for investors whom have a 5-year plus time horizon before taking withdrawals.

The strategy will predominately invest in market sectors that are hardest-hit leading into recessions (i.e. technology, consumer discretionary) by taking a contrarian approach. The strategy is an all-cap strategy which can hold no more than 25% in fixed income or cash. The portfolio will contain between 25-50 holdings, with no single holding greater than 6% of the portfolio. No sector allocation can exceed 30%.

More Fortis Strategies

Our proactive risk-conscious strategies aim to stay a move ahead of the markets.

Stock Strategies

Research-based portfolio options to cater to a client's audience with the aim of optimizing returns with a risk-conscious approach.

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Current Offerings:

Fortis Leaders 50 Stock Strategy

Fortis Alpha 40 Stock Strategy

ETF Strategies

Active/Passive Exchange Traded Funds that adjust based on market signals with the aim of optimizing returns with a risk-conscious approach.

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Current Offerings:

Global:

  • Fortis Active/Passive Global ETF 100% Max Equity Exposure
  • Fortis Active/Passive Global ETF 80% Max Equity Exposure
  • Fortis Active/Passive Global ETF 60% Max Equity Exposure
  • Fortis Active/Passive Global ETF 40% Max Equity Exposure

 

U.S.

  • Fortis Active/Passive US ETF 100% Max Equity Exposure
  • Fortis Active/Passive US ETF  80% Max Equity Exposure
  • Fortis Active/Passive US ETF  60% Max Equity Exposure
  • Fortis Active/Passive US ETF  40% Max Equity Exposure

Combination Strategies

Sometimes two heads are better than one. The same goes for investment strategies, with the aim of optimizing returns with a risk-conscious approach.

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Current Offerings:

Fortis Leaders 50 Stock and Global ETF:

  • Fortis Double Play Leaders 50 Strategy 100% Max Equity
  • Fortis Double Play Leaders 50 Strategy 80% Max Equity
  • Fortis Double Play Leaders 50 Strategy 60% Max Equity
  • Fortis Double Play Leaders 50 Strategy 40% Max Equity

 

Fortis Leaders 50 and US ETF:

  • Fortis U.S.Double Play Leaders 50 Strategy 100% Max Equity
  • Fortis U.S.Double Play Leaders 50 Strategy 80% Max Equity
  • Fortis U.S.Double Play Leaders 50 Strategy 60% Max Equity
  • Fortis U.S.Double Play Leaders 50 Strategy 40% Max Equity

 

Fortis Leaders 50, Fortis Alpha 40, Global ETF:

  • Fortis Triple Play Strategy 100% Max Equity
  • Fortis Triple Play Strategy 80% Max Equity
  • Fortis Triple Play Strategy 60% Max Equity
  • Fortis Triple Play Strategy 40% Max Equity

Quant Models

Aim: Optimize returns with risk compensation approach.

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Quant Stock Strategies

Smart Beta Factor Strategy

Alpha Capture Strategy

Tax Efficient Strategy

Global Stock Strategy

Small Cap Stock Strategy

Faith Based Strategy

ESG Strategy

Quant ETF Strategies

Sector Rotation ETF Strategy

Alpha Capture ETF Strategy 

Real Assets Defensive ETF Strategy

International ETF Strategy

Yield Optimizer ETF Strategy

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