Best Mutual Funds Since the 2008 Election

by Dan Wiener | November 6, 2012 8:39 am

First off, kudos to Tom Bemis over at The Tell on MarketWatch for his screen of the 10 best performing stocks since the last presidential election[1]. What Tom shows is that … well, there’s no real trend to the results, with cars, techs, hotels and retail outfits (online and off) in the list. Or maybe the answer is: diversify.

This got me thinking about the same kind of statistic for mutual funds. Given the fact that the last election took place during the painful penultimate month of 2008, and there still was more pain to come, I figured that REIT funds or emerging-market funds or maybe gold funds would top the list. Well, timing is everything. Leveraged funds, gold funds, REITs and all manner of funds screened out as the top performers before Jeff DeMaso, Adviser Investments’ head of research, filtered sector and leveraged funds from the list.

The best fund over the four years through Friday, Nov. 2 (the most recent data at hand) is a tiny, $28 million mid-cap value fund called Oceanstone, focused on U.S. equities (it currently holds less than 20) and run by James Wang. Good, but not remarkable since its Nov. 2006 inception, the fund absolutely decimated the market since around the end of 2008. The fund’s report for the period ending June 2009 shows a $1.5 million portfolio of just 23 stocks. But Wang apparently likes to trade — turnover can run over 400%.

What — or who else — makes the list? You’ll see it’s a broad range of global, emerging-market and U.S. equity funds. In fact, like the stock list, the “best funds” list argues for diversification.

Fund	Ticker	Style	Return
Oceanstone	OSFDX	US Equity Mid-Cap	505.5%
Wasatch Emerging Markets Small Cap	WAEMX	Emerging-Markets Equity	198.6%
PIMCO StocksPLUS Long Duration Instl	PSLDX	US Equity Large-Cap Blend	180.7%
Oppenheimer International Small Company A	OSMAX	Global Equity Mid/Small-Cap	167.8%
Matthews Asia Small Companies	MSMLX	Asia ex-Japan Equity	157.3%
Huber Capital Small Cap Value Inv	HUSIX	US Equity Small-Cap	156.8%
T. Rowe Price New Asia	PRASX	Asia ex-Japan Equity	155.4%
Invesco Asia Pacific Growth A	ASIAX	Asia ex-Japan Equity	154.7%
Matthew 25	MXXVX	US Equity Large-Cap Growth	153.5%
Wasatch International Growth	WAIGX	Global Equity Mid/Small-Cap	151.6%
Robeco Long/Short Equity I	BPLSX	Long/Short Equity	150.1%
GMO Emerging Country Debt III	GMCDX	Emerging-Markets Fixed Income	146.2%
PIMCO Fundamental IndexPLUS TR A	PIXAX	US Equity Large-Cap Blend	145.1%
CSC Small Cap Value Investor	CSCSX	US Equity Small-Cap	144.8%
DFA Emerging Markets Small Cap I	DEMSX	Emerging Markets Equity	144.2%
Delaware Pooled Focus Smid-Cap Growth Equity	DCGTX	US Equity Mid-Cap	139.3%
Westcore International Small Cap	WTIFX	Global Equity Mid/Small-Cap	139.0%
Hotchkis and Wiley Value Opportunities A	HWAAX	US Equity Mid-Cap	136.8%
Aberdeen Emerging Markets Instl	ABEMX	Emerging-Markets Equity	136.4%
Wasatch International Opportunities	WAIOX	Global Equity Mid/Small-Cap	134.7%
Source: Morningstar Direct

And what fund gets tagged with the “worst of” label? Can you say China — as in the USX China Fund (MUTF:HPCCX[2]) ? It dropped more than 85%.

Maybe it’s a buy?

I doubt it. I’ll stick with diversification and top managers from Barrow Hanley, Wellington, PRIMECAP, Marketfield, Artisan, Vanguard, Fidelity and Three Peaks, to name a few.

Daniel P. Wiener is editor of The Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors[3], a monthly newsletter that keeps abreast of recent developments at Vanguard.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/11/best-mutual-funds-since-the-2008-election/

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