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Naughty or Nice: Guess Which Mutual Funds Outperformed in 2007?
Santa Claus might reward the nice boys and girls, but it paid to be naughty in the mutual fund world this year.
Who’s on the bad-boy list? The Vice Fund, which invests in weapons, gambling, tobacco and alcohol. Yep – it only puts money into companies doing business in these four areas. And in 2007, this rebel with a cause brought home some serious loot. As of December 21, 2007, the Vice Fund had returned 19.2% for the year.
Some of the nicer socially-responsible funds didn’t fare as well. Calvert’s Social Index Fund and Large Cap Growth Fund avoid these so-called sin stocks. Though they might be at the top of Santa Claus’s nice list, the Calvert funds probably won’t top Morningstar’s Analyst Picks report. They returned 3.9% and 14.1% respectively.
We should note that 31% of the Vice Fund is invested in foreign companies, which probably helped performance (the Calvert funds are 100% U.S. holdings). What is more seductive than a bad boy with an accent?
Source: Morningstar
Notes: Returns calculated from January 1, 2007 – December 21, 2007, net of fees. All three mutual funds tilt towards large-cap growth, not value stocks.
Photo: Flickr
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(3) Comments
I had never heard of the Vice Fund. Quite a fantastic idea. Going into a possible recession could you think of something more negatively correlated with economic downturn? Maybe not as many trips to Vegas or Macau but plenty of Hinekein and Heaters to make up for it!
craig, interesting notion trying to time things in this way. if i was a sector bettor (and i’m not, generally), i might be more inclined to go straight consumer staples right now, rather than things that might fall off the budget of some folks. people won’t cut down on toothpaste, but if things get bad, they might drink a bit less beer (especially imported beer!).
Ron, very good points. I guess my thoughts are two-fold: Most vanilla funds present a pretty solid cross section of comsumer staples (in the perspectus). Secondly, you are correct people will continue to buy staples but margins are being squeezed at this point in the cycle. Looking into the fund a little more there are some favorable characteristics: Im bullish on the global economy, 30% Foriegn companies, over 65% of revenue generated outside the US. Also, there is no end in sight for the falling greenback.
So, maybe we wont be able to drink and be merry but our friends around the globe will take advantage of cheap dollars for buweisers and malboros at the craps table.
PS. a 1.75% expense ratio makes me squirm.
