What are we looking for?
Diversification or concentration – two approaches to achieving performance.
The screen
On July 24, the comet-like Nasdaq 100 index will be set to go through a special rebalance. Seasoned investors have long known that this index has been top-heavy with the biggest names (Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Telsa, Meta and Alphabet) representing over half of the index weight. Though there are likely no complaints about the recent performance of those stocks, it does beg the question of whether investors should pursue concentrated investment portfolios. On the one hand, concentration in a portfolio increases the level of risk that would otherwise be reduced through diversification. On the other hand, it can also be argued that mega-cap companies with a global presence (like those mentioned above) are inherently diversified as their revenue streams can come from different product lines and geographies. To explore this idea further, I used Morningstar Direct to look at some of the best-performing Canadian-domiciled U.S. equity ETFs and DIY mutual funds to understand if great portfolio performance can be achieved with either approach (concentrated or diversified). To start with, I screened for funds that have:
– A four- or five-star Morningstar Rating for Funds, indicating that the fund has historically outperformed respective category peers after fees, on risk-adjusted basis. Our data shows that although the star ratings are backward-looking, funds that have received five stars as a group, outperform those that have received four stars, three stars, etc. in periods after receiving the rating. In other words, it’s more likely that a fund manager with a track record of outperforming peers will continue to outperform in the future, as compared with those that have historically underperformed peers.
– Morningstar Medalist Rating of gold, silver, or bronze, isolating funds that Morningstar believes will produce excess after-fee returns in the future, based on our analysis of people (quality of the management team), parent (stewardship of the fund company), and process (robustness of investment decision making).
Only ETFs and D-class mutual funds (those that are available through discount brokerages without a bundled advice cost) were considered in the search.
What we found
The screen produced a list of 29 funds. Displayed in the accompanying table are the top and bottom 10 funds after sorting the list by number of holdings (i.e. the top 10 funds are the most diversified while the bottom 10 are the least diversified.) From this list, we can see that the options are limited for those seeking a great-performing concentrated portfolio. Given that these portfolios are actively managed and often come with higher management expense ratios (MERs), it might be intuitive that few show up on the list since the manager must outperform their peers after the effect of fees, which itself is a high bar. The table also displays trailing performance, MERs, inception date and relevant Morningstar ratings.
This article does not constitute financial advice. Investors are encouraged to conduct their own independent research before purchasing any of the investments listed here.
Ian Tam, CFA, is director of investment research for Morningstar Canada.
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Ian Tam, CFA