(PUB) Morningstar FundInvestor

22

Artio Funds Are Now Aberdeen Changes to the 500 | Russel Kinnel

peer. It has been consistent enough to outperform four fifths of its peers over the past decade.

Maybe its biggest limitation is its 1 . 47% expense ratio, which is second-highest in the Morningstar 500 emerging-markets group. That’s in line with the category average but still a bit pricey. A Strong First Half Eleven funds in the Morningstar 500 finished the first half in the top percentile of their category. Of those, three were run by the Primecap team: Primecap Odyssey Aggressive Growth POAGX , Vanguard Capital Opportunity VHCOX , and Primecap Odyssey Growth POGRX . Fairholme Focused Income FOCIX rode MBIA to top-percentile returns, while Oakmark Interna- tional OAKIX and Artisan International Value ARTKX had winning Japanese stocks provide a boost. Third Avenue Real Estate Value TAREX bene- fited from some unusual plays like Lowe’s LOW and Songbird Estates PLC SBD . Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining VGPMX lost money, but its light weighting in gold meant it lost less than its peers. Invesco Equity Income ACEIX had big wins from the banking sector, and ClearBridge Aggressive Growth SHRAX and Vanguard Capital Value VCVLX had success with health-care and tech stocks. œ

Aberdeen’s acquisition of the Artio fund group was completed in late May. Aberdeen acted quickly to rename the funds and replace the managers at Inter- national Equity and International Equity II . The funds kept their tickers but are now Aberdeen Select International Equity BJBIX and Aberdeen Select International Equity II JETAX . I wouldn’t be surprised if they merged the two. The funds are now run by Jamie Cumming, Stephen Docherty, Samantha Fitzpatrick, Andrew McMenigall, and Bruce Stout of Aberdeen. That same team has run Aberdeen International Equity GIGAX since the beginning of 2009 . So far they’ve produced strong results at that fund, though the record is fairly brief. That large-blend fund has shown a fondness for Latin America, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan and has much less in the eurozone than its peers. We’re dropping coverage of the foreign equity funds. Artio Total Return BJBGX changed its name to Aberdeen Total Return Bond, but it has kept its management team and we are maintaining our coverage and the fund’s Bronze rating. Harding Loevner Fund Joins 500 With a slot opened up, we’re adding Harding Loevner Emerging Markets Advisor HLEMX . The no-load fund has a Silver rating and 4 stars. The fund is run by an experienced trio in Rusty Johnson, Richard Schmidt, and Craig Shaw. The fund’s focus on companies with strong competi- tive advantages and healthy balance sheets gives it some good defensive characteristics, though defen- sive for an emerging-markets fund is relative. The fund lost 17 . 5% in 2001 , which was about 230 basis points better than its peers, and it dropped 52 . 3% in 2008 , which was about 110 less than its average

What is Morningstar FundInvestor 500 ? The Morningstar FundInvestor 500 features the industry’s best and most notable funds. Use the list to get new investment ideas and track the funds you already own. FundInvestor subscribers have access to one-page monthly reports on all 500 funds on mfi.morningstar.com. Just type in the name or ticker of the fund in the search box.

Summary of Changes

Add Drop Harding Loevner Emerging Markets Aberdeen Select Int’l Equity

Rating Change

To

From

Hussman Strategic Total Return

‰ ´

Janus Venture

‰ •

Janus Triton

‰ •

Longleaf Partners

• Œ

Leuthold Asset Allocation

‰ ´

Matthews China

• Œ

T. Rowe Price Media & Telecom.

´ •

Leuthold Core Investment

´ •

T. Rowe Price New America Growth

‰ Œ

Third Avenue Int’l Value

´ •