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Analysis: Managers Glen Fortin and Gavin Ivory have put together a well-diversified portfolio of blue chip U.S. stocks and have carefully avoided overweighting any one sector. Major holdings include Wells Fargo, one of America’s strongest banks, Kraft Foods, Metlife, ConocoPhillips, Comcast, IBM, and Chevron. The fund also has a relatively large position in Irish pharmaceutical and biotech company Covidien.
This conservatively managed value fund won’t generate eye-popping profits but neither will it expose your money to undue risk. Volatility is low compared to other funds of this type and it was among the top performers in its category during the meltdown year of 2008.
Over the five years to Nov. 30/10, the fund produced an average annual compound rate of return of 0.3%. Not impressed? Maybe you will be when you learn the average U.S. equity fund lost 3.6% during that time. An annual positive differential of almost four percentage points over five years is significant and provides investors with a good idea of what to expect from this fund.
The latest one-year return was 3.7% but we expect much better results in 2011. The MER is a low 1.45% and the minimum initial investment is $5,000. The code for the class D front-end units is BTG774. This type of low-risk equity fund is well suited to a registered plan.