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ETF & Mutual Fund Research

March 31, 20150Comments

Cheap Funds Dupe Investors — 1Q2015

Fund holdings affect fund performance more than fees or past performance. A cheap fund is not necessarily a good fund. A fund that has done well in the past is not likely to do well in the future. 1Q15.
by Kyle Guske II, Senior Investment Analyst, MBA
mutual fund
February 16, 20150Comments

How High Fees Can Drain Your Mutual Fund Returns

While this fund has a good number of quality holdings, its high costs land it on our list of the five worst mutual funds in the Health Care sector. We’ll show how investors can be better served by paying less for very similar (or better) holdings in other funds.
by Andre Rouillard
January 21, 20150Comments

Beware Morningstar Myths: The Truth Can Save You Big Bucks

We believe that Morningstar’s size and stranglehold on the rating industry do not serve investors’ best interests. Receive in-depth reports on 10 funds that we think Morningstar’s backward-looking ratings have dead wrong.
by Kyle Guske II, Senior Investment Analyst, MBA
January 2, 20150Comments

Cheap Funds Dupe Investors — 4Q2014

Fund holdings affect fund performance more than fees or past performance. A cheap fund is not necessarily a good fund. A fund that has done well in the past is not likely to do well in the future
by Kyle Guske II, Senior Investment Analyst, MBA
Berkshire-Focus-Fund-BFOCX
December 19, 20140Comments

Danger Zone Fund: Berkshire Focus Fund (BFOCX)

The Berkshire Focus Fund (BFOCX) is in the Danger Zone this week due to its poor holdings. Looking into this mutual fund’s holdings reveals a number of stocks with the potential to blow up, including some companies recently placed in the Danger Zone themselves.
by Andre Rouillard
September 19, 20140Comments

Has the Morningstar Rating System Become a Costly Prophecy for Mutual Fund Investors?

The market not only needs multiple voices analyzing mutual funds, but also holdings-based research that offers an alternative to Morningstar’s backward-looking ratings. The more voices we have in the market, the healthier it will be.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
August 25, 20140Comments

Why Investors Need Independent Fund Research

Investors deserve an alternative to subjective and backward-looking ratings. They deserve analysis of a fund’s holdings, not just its past performance. Investors deserve real diligence, because diligence pays.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
August 7, 20140Comments

Cheap Funds Dupe Investors – 3Q2014

Investors are good at picking cheap funds. We want them to be better at picking funds with good stocks. Both are required to maximize success.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
April 30, 20140Comments

Cheap Funds Dupe Investors – 2Q2014

Fund holdings affect fund performance more than fees or past performance. A cheap fund is not necessarily a good fund.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
March 10, 20140Comments

Are Investors Wishing Upon Their Stars?

Morningstar's ratings are useful, but without analysis of holdings investors have not done their due diligence.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
February 7, 20140Comments

Cheap Funds Dupe Investors – 1Q2014

Investors are good at picking cheap funds. We want them to be better at picking funds with good stocks. Both are required to maximize success. 1Q14
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
January 29, 20140Comments

Morningstar’s Ratings Are Not The Final Word

Morningstar’s research can be helpful, but we believe our in-depth analysis of ETF and mutual fund holdings gives our ratings a superior predictive value, and results back up our claim.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
November 1, 20130Comments

Cheap Funds Dupe Investors – 4Q2013

Fund holdings affect fund performance more than fees or past performance. A cheap fund is not necessarily a good fund. A fund that has done well in the past is
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
September 23, 20130Comments

Index Investing Myth Buster: Tom Brakke

Tom Brakke recently featured our Dangers Zone article on FVL. His article highlights the lack of performance of FVL versus other true index funds and supports my thesis.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
New Constructs
August 9, 20130Comments

GURU and the Rise of Quality Holdings Research

The recent popularity of the Global X Top Guru Holdings Index ETF (GURU) is a testament to the fact that investors are realizing the importance of a fund's holdings above all else.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
July 25, 20130Comments

Cheap Funds Dupe Investors – 3Q13

Fund holdings affect fund performance more than fees or past performance. A cheap fund is not necessarily a good fund. A fund that has done well in the past is not likely to do well in the future. 3Q13
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
July 16, 20130Comments

Rating Breakdown: Best & Worst ETFs & Mutual Funds by Style

This report identifies the “best” ETFs and mutual funds based on the quality of their holdings and their costs. As detailed in “Low-Cost Funds Dupe Investors”, there are few funds that have both good holdings and low costs. While there are lots of cheap funds, there are very few with high-quality holdings.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
July 11, 20130Comments

Rating Breakdown: Best & Worst ETFs & Mutual Funds by Sector (July 2013)

This report focuses on my top picks and pans for all sector funds for July 2013. I will follow this summary with a detailed report on each sector.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
June 24, 20130Comments

Danger Zone 6/24/13: REITs

Even with this recent price drop, the current valuations of REITs look disconnected from their fundamentals.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
New Constructs
June 11, 20130Comments

Danger Zone 6/10/13: “Passive” Investors

Passive investors are in the Danger Zone for not recognizing that they are actually active investors.
by David Trainer, Founder & CEO
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