(Source: Money Marketing)
Hargreaves Lansdown head of research Mark Dampier has defended
Invesco Perpetual UK equity income guru Neil Woodford's performance,
and says now is the best time to invest.
Woodford's pound 6.4bn income and pound 8.6bn higher-income funds
are 17th and 18th respectively in the UK equity income and growth
sector from January 1 to September 25, according to figures from
Lipper.
However, Dampier says this is due to the manager's long-term,
bearish economic outlook and stocks that match this view - namely
those with strong balance sheets and stable business models such as
AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline.
Dampier says: "Since March, these have been left behind as
investors anticipated a V-shaped economic recovery and bought more
cyclical stock. Woodford thinks this is highly dangerous and likens
the situation to that of 1999/2000 when internet stocks took off and
left the solid, dependable companies behind."
Dampier adds: "He has actually raised the dividend on his funds
this year while many other equity income funds have cut theirs by as
much as 25 per cent."
Fund Focus, p16
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