09/2017 KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE 61THE KIPLINGER 25 UPDATEA Slow Year for
a Tech-Lite Fund
But Henneman and
Adams make an exception
for Alphabet, Google’s Cali-
fornia-based parent. They
view the firm as a leader
in “machine learning”—the
technology that enables a
computer to, among other
things, find hidden relation-
ships in gobs of seemingly
unconnected data.
Although Growth has
a below-average weighting
in tech stocks, its managers
appreciate innovation. They
recently invested in Tennant,
a leading maker of commer-
cial scrubbers and sweep-
ers, in part because the firm
has been investing in new
technology, including a sys-
tem that can track machine
locations and productivity.
NELLIE S. HUANGREACH YOUR GOALS: TO SEE PORTFOLIOS
USING THESE FUNDS, GO TO KIPLINGER
.COM/LINKS/PORTFOLIOS.less time hunting for win-
ners in, say, Silicon Valley
than in Minnesota. And that
means technology stocks
are often underrepresented
in Growth; they currently
account for just 6% of its
assets (compared with 22%
in the S&P 500). Because
the tech sector performed
strongly for most of the
past year, Growth’s relative
results suffered.
But location isn’t the
only reason for the low
tech stake. The managers
seek growing firms with
sustainable competitive ad-
vantages. But, they say, it’s
hard for tech companies to
maintain an edge for long.
“Apple, Amazon.com, Face-
book—we don’t invest in
those stocks,” says Adams.
“It’s tough to imagine how
they won’t eventually be dis-
placed by new technologies.”its 52 holdings and 59% of
its $4.6 billion in assets were
in such companies. All three
of its top holdings—Ecolab,
US Bancorp and Graco—are
headquartered in the Min-
neapolis–St. Paul area.
One result of this re-
gional focus is that the
fund tends to hold more
industrial stocks (32% of
assets) than are found in
Standard & Poor’s 500-
stock index (10%). Another
is that Growth’s managers,
Andrew Adams and Mark
Henneman, tend to spendTHE PAST YEAR HAS NOT
been kind to MAIRS & POWER
GROWTH. Over that period,
the quirky fund lagged the
broad market by 5.8 percent-
age points. And Growth’s
quirkiness may have some-
thing to do with that disap-
pointing performance.
What separates Growth
from most U.S. stock funds
is its emphasis on geography.
The fund, whose manage-
ment team is located in St.
Paul, focuses on companies
based in the Upper Mid-
west. At last report, 30 ofInternational
Stock Funds SymbolAnnualized total return Added to
1 yr. 3 yrs. 5 yrs. 10 yrs. Kip 25
Baron Emerging Markets BEXFX 18.2% 1.9% 8.6% — Oct. 2016
Fidelity International GrowthFIGFX 16.4 4.5 9.5 — Feb. 2016
Oakmark International OAKIX 40.0 3.7 12.7 4.9% July 2017
T. Rowe Price Intl Discovery PRIDX 24.8 7.8 13.4 5.4 May 2017Through June 30. ‡Open to new investors if purchased directly through Vanguard. *Small-company U.S. stocks. †Foreign stocks. #High-grade U.S. bonds. —Fund not in existence for the entire period.
SOURCE: © 2017 Morningstar Inc.
Specialized/
Go-Anywhere Funds SymbolAnnualized total return Added to
1 yr. 3 yrs. 5 yrs. 10 yrs. Kip 25
Vanguard Health Care VGHCX 11.6% 10.7% 18.5% 11.4% May 2016
Vanguard Wellington‡ VWELX 12.2 6.8 10.4 6.9 May 2016IndexesAnnualized total return
1 yr. 3 yrs. 5 yrs. 10 yrs.
S&P 500-STOCK INDEX 17.9% 9.6% 14.6% 7.2%
RUSSELL 2000 INDEX* 24.6 7.4 13.7 6.9
MSCI EAFE INDEX† 20.3 1.1 8.7 1.0
MSCI EMERGING MARKETS INDEX 23.7 1.1 4.0 1.9
BARCLAYS AGGREGATE BOND INDEX# –0.3 2.5 2.2 4.5Bond Funds SymbolAnnualized total return Added to
1 yr. 3 yrs. 5 yrs. 10 yrs. Kip 25
DoubleLine Total Return N DLTNX 1.2% 2.8% 3.3% — May 2011
Fidelity Intermed Muni FLTMX –0.7 2.4 2.4 3.9% May 2004
Fidelity New Markets IncomeFNMIX 9.2 5.0 5.9 7.8 May 2012
Met West Total Return Bond M MWTRX 0. 1 2. 1 3. 3 5. 8 M a y 2 0 1 6
Pimco Income D PONDX 9. 4 5. 4 7.9 9. 1 May 2016
Vanguard High-Yield CorporateVWEHX 10.3 4.6 6.2 6.6 May 2016
Vanguard Sh-Tm Inv-Grade VFSTX 1.2 1.8 2.0 3.2 May 2010U.S. Stock Funds SymbolAnnualized total return Added to
1 yr. 3 yrs. 5 yrs. 10 yrs. Kip 25
Dodge & Cox Stock DODGX 28.6% 8.5% 16.4% 5.9% May 2008
Fidelity New Millennium FMILX 19.5 6.0 13.1 8.1 May 2014
Homestead Small-Co Stock HSCSX 16.5 6.3 13.0 9.3 May 2012
Mairs & Power Growth MPGFX 12.1 7.8 14.1 8.0 Jan. 2013
Parnassus Mid Cap PARMX 16.3 9.2 13.9 9.0 Aug. 2014
T. Rowe Price Blue Chip GrowthTRBCX 27.9 12.4 16.9 9.4 May 2016
T. Rowe Price Dividend GrowthPRDGX 14.3 10.0 14.2 7.4 Oct. 2016
T. Rowe Price QM US Sm-Cp GroPRDSX 21.4 9.3 15.7 10.1 May 2015
T. Rowe Price Sm-Cap Value PRSVX 24.3 7.6 13.1 7.6 May 2009
T. Rowe Price Value TRVLX 17.9 7.1 15.4 6.6 May 2015
Primecap Odyssey Growth POGRX 31.3 12.0 17.2 9.5 May 2017
Vanguard Equity-Income VEIPX 13.6 8.4 13.5 7.4 Jan. 2017