Meet the experienced stock market guru - Prashant Khemka

25 years of experience and a strong fundamental screening has made this portfolio manager outperform the market.

Investment Philosophy of Prakash Khemka

Prashant Khemka’s screening process steers clear of businesses with weak characteristics such as poor corporate governance, weak incremental returns on capital and those that face obsolescence risk arising out of technological developments.

Prashant founded White Oak Capital Management in June 2017. He is the former CIO and lead portfolio manager of GS India Equity at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) from March 2007 to March 2017, and also for the Global Emerging Markets (GEM) Equity from June 2013 to March 2017. As lead PM, he managed all mutual funds and separate accounts under these strategies.

Currently, under his leadership, two portfolios are managed in White Oak Capital Management PMS.

1. White Oak India Top 200 PMS

The objective of the strategy is to achieve long term capital appreciation by primarily investing in top 200 ‘listed securities’ by market capitalization in India.

The 6-month return is 22.8% which has outperformed the index (S&P BSE 200 TR) with 83bps.

The top 3 Contributors to alpha are Coforge, Persistent systems, Bajaj Finserv and the top 3 detractors are Indigo paints, Nestle India, HDFC Bank between January 22, 2021, to September 30, 2021.

2. White Oak India Pioneers Equity Portfolio

The objective of the strategy is to achieve long term capital appreciation by primarily investing in top 200 ‘listed securities’ by market capitalization in India.

The 2-year CAGR return is 36.1% which has outperformed the index (S&P BSE 500 TR) with 746bps.

The top 3 Contributors to alpha are Coforge, Navin Fluorine International, Abbott India and the top 3 detractors are Delta Corp, Infosys, Axis Bank between April 9, 2019to September 30, 2021.

The alpha skills of the celebrated Fund manager are as under - Two crucial steps in stock selection

1. Disciplined Research Process

Intensive fundamental research to assess business attributes, and valuation derived from proprietary OpcoFinco™ framework. The structured screening process to assess the governance-DNA of a company is a starting point of the research process. Build a 360-degree perspective on any business through an extensive schedule of plant visits, meetings with company management, competitors, suppliers, customers and other trade participants.   

2. Balanced Portfolio Construction

Ensure alpha generation is a function of stock selection through a balanced portfolio of companies. Invest in businesses and consciously avoid market timing, sector rotation or other top-down macro bets. Understand, monitor, and aim to contain residual factor risks that are the by-product of stock selection.