Trimark Canadian Small Companies Fund
Fund Card This high conviction, Canadian small and mid-cap fund had been a staple on my Recommended List of Funds until a year ago, when I removed it because it was closed to new investors. From a timing standpoint, this makes me look pretty good, given the fund struggled in 2015, posting a 24.5% loss, and was one of the weakest performing funds in the category. I spoke with Jason Whiting in...
Read MoreBeutel Goodman American Equity Fund
Fund Card Historically, the U.S. has been one of the toughest markets to beat on a consistent basis. That said, this is one of the higher quality funds and tends to be in the running more often than not. It is managed using a highly disciplined, bottom up value approach that places emphasis on capital preservation, with a focus on delivering absolute returns and managing risks. To achieve this,...
Read MoreManulife Global Small Cap Balanced Fund
Fund Card This is a somewhat unique balanced fund in that the equity sleeve is highly focused on small and mid-cap funds. It invests in primarily in the Manulife Global Small Cap Fund, and the Manulife Strategic Income Fund, two very excellent funds in their own right. The target mix is set at 75% in equities, 25% in fixed income. At the end of December, it was overweight equities, holding...
Read MoreTD U.S. Blue Chip Equity Fund
Fund Card It is pretty tough for a U.S. large cap fund to outpace the S&P 500, but this fund did that in 2015, and has for the past five years. While the S&P 500 has earned an annualized 20% for the past five years, this fund is up more than 21% (in Canadian dollar terms). As impressive as these numbers are, I wouldn’t bet on them being sustainable over the long term. While the manager...
Read MoreManulife Global Small Cap
Fund Card With a one year gain of 30.7%, this was the top performing global small cap fund in 2015. But this was no fluke. The fund, launched in April 2008 is identical to the highly regarded Mawer Global Small Cap Fund (MAW 150 – No Load Units). For the five years ending December 31, it has gained nearly 21 per year on an annualized basis, making it one of the best performing funds. In fact,...
Read MoreTD Health Sciences
Fund Card Healthcare, particularly in Canada was one of the bright spots of the year, with the S&P/TSX Health Care Index gaining an impressive 22%, while the S&P Global 1200 Health Care Sector Index rose by a more modest 6.0%. Factoring in the drop in the Canadian dollar, and the unhedged return to Canadian investors would have been in the ballpark of 26%. Posting a gain of nearly 33% in...
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