Top Mutual Funds Since 1987
Kurt Brouwer November 6th, 2007
Richard Widows at theStreet.com wrote an excellent piece on the mutual funds leaders and laggards over the 20 years since the Crash of 1987. In it, he echoed a theme we discussed in The Stock Market Crash of 1987, namely that the 22% downturn that day was just a footnote in the annals of stock market history. Widows writes:
‘ Oct. 19, 1987, Black Monday produced the largest one-day percentage decline in stock market history. But for many buy-and-hold mutual fund investors, it proved to be little more than a relatively brief, albeit painful, bump along a path of long-term, annualized double-digit returns…’
Even though the Crash is but a footnote in the annals of stock market history today, back then it was a traumatic event. So, Richard Widows set out to find the funds that investors would have looked at back then. The theme of the piece is setting out which mutual funds have been leaders or laggards since the Crash (actually since September 30, 1987, which was just before the big drop on October 19, 1987). Here are the top five leaders and laggards from his list. He goes into more detail on them and other mutual funds in the piece:
LEADERS (since 9-30-87)
- Vanguard Health Care (VGHCX)
- Federated Kaufman (KAUAX)
- Vanguard Energy (VGENX)
- FPA Capital (FPPTX)
- Fidelity Select Software (FSCSX)
LAGGARDS (since 9-30-87)
- Vanguard Small Cap Index (NAESX)
- Progressive Capital Accumulation (PCATX)
- Midas Special Fund (MISEX)
- Midas Fund (MIDSX)
- GAMCO Mathers (MATRX)
Widows also points out some interesting facts about the mutual funds that made the list, either as leaders or laggards [emphasis added]: