Morningstar Advisor - Spring 2008 - (Page 80) Screens Risks Worth Taking By Karin Anderson This screen finds funds that have come out ahead despite their higher-than-average volatility. When the markets get choppy, the natural reaction is to retreat to safer investments. But the fact remains that to generate strong returns investors must be willing to tolerate some risk. To zero in on funds that have been good bets despite having high risk scores relative to their peers, we’ll use the Morningstar Risk rating. This rating is half of the Morningstar RiskAdjusted Return measure, best known as the star rating. The Morningstar Risk rating compares the performance swings of a fund’s monthly returns with other funds in its category; funds are penalized more for their downside swings than they are rewarded for outperforming their peers. (This is because investors are more sensitive to losing money than they are to earning big returns.) In each category, the 10% of funds with the lowest measured risk have “Low” risk ratings, the next 22.5% are “Below Average,” the middle 35% “Average,” the next 22.5% “Above Average,” and the top 10% “High.” We arrive at Morningstar Return in a similar way. In combination, the risk and return ratings for the three-, five-, and 10-year periods produce each fund’s star rating. To find risky funds with attractive risk/reward profiles, we’ll start our search by looking for distinct portfolios that have earned Above Average or High five-year Morningstar Risk ratings. The screen was performed on Feb. 19. You can perform it in Morningstar Advisor Workstation Office Edition and Morningstar Principia. More than 1,500 funds met these criteria. To find funds that appear to be the best bets despite above-average risk scores, we want to screen for managers with at least 10 years at the helm and who boast top-third trailing five- and 10-year records. A strong longterm record shows that a fund has made the price of higher risk worthwhile. And And And Manager Tenure (Longest) % Rank Cat 5 Yr % Rank Cat 10 Yr > 10 < 33 < 33 Special Criteria And Or ( Morningstar Risk 5 Yr Morningstar Risk 5 Yr 5 Distinct Portfolios Only 5 High 5 Above Average ) We also want to limit the list to funds that are open to new investments and to those with reasonable price tags (expense ratios less than or equal to 1.25% annually). 80 Morningstar Advisor Spring 2008
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