David Barr is the CEO of Pender. He is also the Portfolio Manager of several of Pender’s funds.
David began his investing career in 2000. He initially worked in private equity which gives him a unique background to investing capital. At the end of 2007 he became a partner at PenderFund Capital Management Ltd and was appointed Chief Investment Officer with the objective of launching Pender’s mutual fund business. In April 2016 David was appointed CEO of Pender upon the retirement of Kelly Edmison.
David holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business. He earned his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2003 and is an active member of the Vancouver chapter. He is a past President of CFA Vancouver, having also served on its Board of Directors for four years.
David has been interviewed for his opinions on small cap, the technology sector and value investing by the Financial Post, The Globe & Mail, Morningstar and other media. He is a regular guest on BNN Bloomberg. In December 2012 Mr. Barr was recognized as one of British Columbia’s “Top Forty Under 40” business leaders by Business in Vancouver.
David is an advocate of value investing, a strategy to estimate the intrinsic value of a company before looking to invest in that company with a “margin of safety” or a discount to intrinsic value. He believes that investing in a company well below intrinsic value decreases the risk and sets it up for generating long term performance. This approach forms the basis of Pender’s overall investment strategy, which aims to preserve and grow client capital.
In order to execute on his value investing strategy David is a true contrarian. To meet his stringent value investing criteria, he looks for value in unpopular places with a view to reducing risk and finding prices that include a margin-of-safety. He refuses to follow the crowds and is driven to find quality at a discount.
Highlights Sylogist Inc (TSX: SYZ) is the largest holding in the Fund and was a top contributor in the quarter. We have been active with the company over the last few months and have successfully negotiated a nomination agreement that allows us to appoint a director to their board. Burford Capital Inc (NYSE: BUR) was […]
Highlights It was the first month of outperformance for small caps relative to large caps since February. Sylogist Inc. (TSX: SYZ) was a top contributor in the quarter. We are focused on reviewing our holdings regarding their ability to service existing debt, in addition to their maturity profile and the risks of refinancing their debt. […]
Highlights Small-cap stocks have historically traded at a premium to large caps given their higher growth potential. However, we are now in a market when small caps trade at a significant discount to large caps. We are continuing to rotate our portfolio into higher quality companies where we see the best risk/reward profiles such as […]
Highlights Pender Value Fund returned 9.7%[1] in January, following a 4.7% gain in the fourth quarter. Technology holdings now represent the largest sector weight in the portfolio at 37.6% at the end of January, up from 29.3% at the end of June 2022. We see many high-quality tech companies trading at a discount of greater […]
Highlights The Fund had a nice recovery in the fourth quarter with a return of 9.7%. Maxar Technologies Inc. (TSX: MAXR) was a top contributor to the portfolio after private equity firm Advent International made a bid to acquire the company at a large premium. Maxar was a long-term holding in the portfolio, and we […]
Fellow unit holders, The Pender Small Cap Opportunities Fund returned -12.5% in September, bringing returns so far this year to -34.8%[1]. This was a challenging period for the Fund, which was up against a difficult market environment, particularly for the small/micro-cap and technology companies that we own in the Fund. In Canada, the broad-based S&P/TSX […]
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