Fidelity Small Cap America
Investors have been rewarded handsomely since Steve MacMillan took over the management duties of this fund in May 2011. Since taking over, the fund has gained 70%, with more than half of that rise coming in 2013. Year to date, the fund is up 41%, which has left the benchmark and competition in the dust.
Read MoreTD Health Sciences
All healthcare funds are not created equally. The TD Health Sciences Fund has been one of my favourites. It invests in companies that are involved in the research, development, production, or distribution of products or services related to health care, medicine, or the life sciences. To qualify for selection, companies must derive at least 50% of their assets, revenues, or operating profits from those activities. The manager tends to focus in the U.S. where nearly 85% of the fund is invested.
Read MoreMawer U.S. Equity Fund
Manager Grayson Witcher took over Mawer’s U.S. offering in 2009 and really struggled to turn the fund around and differentiate this fund from the pack. Looking at his recent performance however, it certainly appears that he is making progress on that front. For the three years ending October 31, the fund gained an annualized 17.4%, matching the S&P 500 Index, but handily outperforming the majority of its peer group.
Read MoreDynamic Precious Metals Fund
Gold and precious metals funds had a big run-up from October 2008 to later 2010, but have sold off sharply since mid 2011. This fund is no exception, dropping more than 55% in the past year.
Read MoreAGF Traditional Income Fund
With interest rates still pretty low by historic standards, many investors continue to look for ways to generate a decent cash flow, while still being able to earn a decent total return and not take on too much risk. This fund may be a good candidate to do just that. It invests in a mix of stocks and bonds and has the objective of paying a regular cash flow to investors, which is currently targeting 4% per year. It is paying a variable distribution that is currently averaging around 4.4 cents per month, which works out to an annualized yield of just under 5%
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