Dan Bastasic

Dan Bastasic joined iA Clarington in 2011 and is the lead portfolio manager for the IA Clarington Strategic Funds and IA Clarington Tactical Income Class. He specializes in equity income, high-yield corporate bonds and investment grade corporate bonds.

Dan has over 20 years of investment experience. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (finance) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Windsor, and the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He is a member of the CFA Society Toronto.

Dan's philosophy

Dan aims to provide investors with stable income options. He uses a value-oriented, bottom-up approach for both equities and fixed income and constantly monitors and fine tunes his portfolios by maintaining a 12-month strategic outlook on the markets.

Key features of Dan’s approach:

Focus on absolute returns
High-conviction, value-based security selection
Fundamental-driven valuation and quantitative analysis
Macro analysis of systemic risks and opportunities
Risk management through diversification and currency management

Five step process:

Sustainability
- Safety of income.
- Cash flow sustainability.
Profitability
- Earnings consistency.
- Quantitative analysis.
Valuation
- Business and industry analysis.
- Income statement and balance sheet analysis – liquidation value scenarios.
- Estimate of net asset value.
- Discounted cash flow analysis:
  - What is the firm worth privately?
  - What are the assets actually worth?
  - In a liquidation scenario or in a takeover scenario, what is the firm worth?
- Comparison of company to industry multiples – market valuations, ROE, earnings vs. the market.
- Doesn’t buy based on P/E or book value alone.
Risk analysis
- Portfolio based on value and margin of safety.
- Focus on core holdings within each sector.
- Absolute return focus.
- Due diligence (tour companies).
- Deep industry understanding.
Catalyst for change
- Dan and his team look for a catalyst or a “free option” with potential investments; these are pockets of value or expected business changes that may not be reflected in the current price of the security.