Forward Management Introduces Alternative Strategy Mutual Fund

According to a press release, the fund employs an alternative strategy “designed to capitalize on market inefficiencies while actively managing downside volatility, and allows investors access to a long/short tactical strategy that strives to participate in the upside of the market while limiting the downside.” Tactical equity exposure is used to manage risk and enhance alpha and the portfolio can be long, short, or neutral on the market.

The fund is available in investor, institutional, and C-share classes and is sub-advised by the investment team at Broadmark Asset Management, LLC. Broadmark also partners with Forward to offer a similar strategy for Forward in separately managed accounts (SMA), the firm said.

The Forward Tactical Growth Fund’s investment objective is to produce above-average, risk-adjusted returns, in any market environment, while exhibiting less downside volatility than the S&P 500. The fund’s investment process is designed to evaluate individual securities, sectors, and entire markets to determine if they are over- or undervalued, and accordingly to take both long or short positions as a result of their analysis.

The fund will attempt to accomplish this by primarily investing in ETFs and futures, while using Broadmark’s proprietary, multi-factor process to identify investment opportunities over time. The fund may use leveraged investment techniques as well as short positions on target securities which allow it a net exposure which can range from 120% net long to 100% net short in its portfolio.