196 / 772
2
Vanguard Intermediate-TermTax-Exempt Investors VWITX
$5.6 Billion
Why?
No idea. This
•
-rated fund is an
excellent choice, though I can’t explain why it
happens to be receiving a ton of money now. It’s a
well-run, low-cost fund and serves as a fine way to
invest in high-quality munis. The fund has three
fourths of the portfolio in bonds rated
AA
and higher,
so there’s very little credit risk. This is a peace-
of-mind fund rather than a maximum-yield fund.
Fidelity Total Bond FTBFX
$5.3 Billion
Why?
We now come to our last of the
PIMCO
Total
Return replacements. The fund doesn’t have dramatic
swings like
PIMCO
Total Return because it avoids big
macroeconomic bets. Manager Ford O’Neil focuses
on issue selection and takes a bit of additional credit
risk to beat the benchmark. He’ll invest up to
20%
in
below-investment-grade credit. Overall, he’s done an
excellent job, and I think this
Œ
-rated fund is a
strong choice for a core fixed-income fund that won’t
provide too many surprises.
Biggest Outflows
PIMCO Total Return PTTRX
Negative $123 Billion
Why?
The Bill Gross kerfuffle. We just reaffirmed our
´
rating on the fund, as things have actually
gone pretty well since Gross’ departure. The outflows
are the biggest negative, but they have had little
to no impact on returns and performance has been
strong. The new three-person team seems to be
functioning well so far, though we’ll want to see
more evidence of that before considering an upgrade.
I haven’t touched my
PIMCO
Total Return invest-
ment (other than rebalancing) since Gross left, and
I think that’s the wise course for most people.
PIMCO Unconstrained Bond PUBDX
Negative $14 Billion
Why? Even before Bill Gross left, investors were
bailing on the fund because of disappointing perform-
ance and manager turnover. I see no reason to
rush into this one given those issues but also because
I really want to see how new manager Marc Seidner
Assessing the Most Loved and Hated Funds
Continued From Cover
The Most Popular and Unpopular Funds in the United States
Inflows
Ticker
1-Year
Fund Flow
$B
Fund Size
$B
Morningstar
Analyst Rating
Total Ret
Annlzd
5-Yr %
Total Ret
% Rank
Cat 5-Yr
Total Ret
Annlzd
10-Yr %
Total Ret
% Rank
Cat 10-Yr
Total Ret
Annlzd
15-Yr %
Total Ret
% Rank
Cat 15-Yr
Metropolitan West Total Rtrn Bnd
MWTRX 35
65.7
Œ
5.94
7
6.58
2
6.74
5
Dodge & Cox Income
DODIX 16.6
43.5
Œ
4.97
30
5.42
17
6.20
14
Dodge & Cox International Stock DODFX 11.1
69
Œ
8.59
9
7.68
14
— —
PIMCO Income
PONDX 8.9
43.6
„
10.70
2
— — — —
Vanguard Interm-Term Tx-Ex
VWITX 5.6
43
„
4.35
35
4.30
22
4.74
36
Fidelity Total Bond
FTBFX 5.4
19
Œ
5.14
24
5.33
20
— —
Outflows
Columbia Acorn
ACRNX -6.7
13.8
x
11.41
85
9.45
62
10.54
4
PIMCO All Asset All Authority
PAUDX -7.1
17
„
3.89
75
— — — —
American Funds Grw Fund of Amer AGTHX -7.9
150
´
13.33
55
9.19
43
5.86
14
Fidelity Contrafund
FCNTX -10.3
112
„
14.29
33
10.50
17
7.56
2
PIMCO Low Duration
PLDDX -10.4
13.3
´
2.18
43
3.60
22
4.08
29
Thornburg International Value
TGVAX -13.2
11
´
6.60
66
7.49
25
6.88
1
PIMCO Unconstrained Bond
PUBDX -15
9.8
x
2.10
63
— — — —
PIMCO Total Return
PTTRX -123
117
´
4.85
36
6.11
4
6.76
5
Data as of April 23, 2015.