Leversens.
Master's Research · ESLSCA Paris · 2026

Buy quality.
Hold through trends.
Avoid the junk.

A long-only enhancement of the Quality Minus Junk framework (Asness, Frazzini & Pedersen, 2019), augmented with academic momentum and a factor-level regime indicator. Monthly rebalancing on the S&P 500.

Annualized Return
+13.7%
vs +8.6% S&P 500
Sharpe Ratio
0.73
vs 0.33 benchmark
Max Drawdown
−31.0%
vs −56.8% S&P 500
Annual Alpha
+6.8%
net of beta exposure
19-year backtest
February 2007 → February 2026
Total return: +1,054.8% vs +378.3%

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Built on academic excellence

The strategy extends the seminal work of Asness, Frazzini and Pedersen, "Quality Minus Junk", published in the Review of Accounting Studies (2019). The original paper demonstrates that high-quality stocks systematically outperform over the long run—a premium largely ignored by classical asset pricing models.

This research adds three layers: a long-only constraint (no shorting), a 12-1 momentum filter for entry timing, and a factor-level regime indicator for defensive de-risking. The empirical study covers 19 years (2007-2026) on the S&P 500 universe, with monthly rebalancing.