Jim Lowell is known for his expertise in assessing mutual funds; in particulre, he is the newsletter advisory world's leading authority on Fidelity funds.
In his Fidelity Investor, he recently conducted his mid-year ranking of Fidelity managers. Here, we look at four favorite funds with top-rated managers that also offer global diversification.
"Stephen DuFour, manager of Fidelity Focused Stock (FTQGX), is no stranger to our ranking top notches. He took over this fund in March last year, and turned its performance up a notch (finishing the year up 17% vs. .5.5% for his S&P 500 benchmark): Bam!
"With 52 holdings, this fund is focused. His top 10 basically says it all – a diversified play on global growth in a stock picker’s portfolio: Southwestern Energy, Norfolk Southern, Range Resources, T. Rowe Price, NRG Energy, Unilever, Eaton, Cisco, Cabot Oil & Gas, and Apple.
"Tom Soviero, manager at Fidelity Leveraged Company Stock (FLVCX), has jumped from the third spot in the December rankings to the top spot this time around.
"His top-ranked status reflects his stock picking expertise. The portfolio continues to become even more concentrated in his top 10 picks (29.4% of the fund’s assets now vs. 27% six months ago).
"The fund remains a unique diversifier; most growth-oriented investors could benefit from including it in their mix by virtue of the fact that it won’t correlate with anything they currently own. It is up 7.1% year-to-date, which is something we can’t say about many other funds at this time.
"Energy still amounts to almost ½ of the names. Industrials (12.4%), materials (11.7%), and technology (9.9%) represent his other, biggest stakes. Together, they look like a road map whose performance success swings on a global growth hinge.
"Bill Kennedy uses a classic, bottoms up, boots on the ground, go anywhere approach at Fidelity International Discovery (FIGRX).
"His stock picking style is based on broad diversification among countries; UK tops the list with Japan in second, while Germany, Switzerland, France, Australia, Spain, USA, Canada, and Hong Kong round out the foreign market map of his markets.
"The fund is broadly diversified (233 holdings), with his top ten holdings accounting for just 16% of total assets. He continues to provide this portfolio with solid large-cap picks that makes him a strong complement to the far more aggressive, regionally focused int’l fund above.
"George Stairs, manager at Fidelity International Value (FIVLX), has been steadily climbing in our rankings. His diversified regional and industry approach is complemented by his concentrated number of holdings (138, with 27% of his fund’s assets in his top 10 picks).
"In a stock pickers market, this fund, like Focused Stock above, tends to either standout or fall hard on the manager’s stock picking merits (or lack thereof).
"His top 10 names: Toyota, Roche, Unicredit, Banco Santander, Mitsui, Allianz SE, Daimler, Royal Dutch, Axa, Total – cars, pharmaceuticals, commercial banks, trading companies, insurance, oil and gas are present and accounted for in his large-cap, established int’l market tilt toward the value side of the global market’s fence."
