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The numbers, I like to say, don't tell the whole story. They just tell most of it. And so here's my third annual special edition of "Number Fun with Mutual Funds," a compilation of facts, strange and not so strange, from Morningstar's database.
Working on my PC with Morningstar Principia Pro, I calculated the averages for lots of categories. I found that the average fund's expense ratio kept going up, as did its "turnover," or the average time a stock stayed in a portfolio. That average holding period is now down to less than 14 months. The price-earnings ratio of the typical portfolio is up, while cash holdings on average are down.
The average diversified U.S. stock fund had 22% of its assets in technology stocks, up a lot from the past two years. International stock funds had fewer chips in Europe, lots more in Japan, and less and less in Latin America. The happy news is that the average fund, both U.S. and foreign, outperformed key benchmarks. On that and a lot more, fund fans, here's the box score:
Category
1999*
Total number of diversified U.S. stock funds
5314
3,432
2,732
Total number of international stock funds
1664
1,385
1,199
Average number of holdings in U.S. stock funds
139
126
135
Average number of holdings in international stock funds:
137
134
154
Average tenure of U.S. fund managers, in years:
3.6
3.8
4.1
Average tenure of management in international funds:
3.8
3.3
3.4
Average amount of U.S. portfolios invested in cash:
5.2
6.30%
5.50%
Average amount of international portfolios invested in cash:
5
7.70%
6.60%
Average price-earnings ratio of U.S. funds:
32.7
30.4
26.9
Average price-earnings ratio of international funds:
32
25.1
23.4
Average time a stock is held in a diversified U.S. fund
13 months,
14 days
14 months,
3 days
14 months,
8 days
Average holding period of a stock in international funds
13 months,
9 days
14 months,
24 days
16 months,
19 days
Average size of a U.S. diversified stock fund:
$570.98 million
$586.1 million
$586.9 million
Average size of an international stock fund
$279.82 million
$252.13 million
$275.3 milliion
Average expense ratio of U.S. stock fund:
1.44%
1.41%
1.41%
Average expense ratio of international stock fund
1.93%
1.85%
1.86%
How far U.S. funds moved for every 1% jiggle in the S&P 500
0.90%
0.98%
0.85%
How far international funds moved to the same jiggle:
0.86%
0.84%
0.68%
How much U.S. funds' stock holdings are invested in:
Utilities
3.20%
2.80%
2.20%
Energy
5.70%
5.30%
7.60%
Financials
16.40%
16.10%
16.30%
Industrial cyclicals
12.20%
13.20%
15.10%
Consumer durables
3.30%
4.00%
4.30%
Consumer staples
4.10%
5.40%
5.70%
Services
17.30%
17.20%
15.30%
Retail
6.20%
7.90%
7.00%
Health
9.60%
11.80%
10.90%
Technology
22.00%
16.30%
15.80%
How much of international funds' holdings are invested in:
Europe
40.50%
45.50%
35.80%
Pacific Rim
16.40%
15.00%
19.10%
U.S.-Canada
11.10%
8.80%
10.60%
Japan
14.20%
10.20%
9.40%
Latin America
6.50%
7.90%
8.40%
Percentage of foreign stocks in diversified U.S. stock funds:
4.50%
3.60%
5.60%
Style category with most funds:
Large-cap value, 1,908 among U.S. and international funds
Large-cap blend, 905 among U.S. and international funds
Large-cap blend, 927 among U.S. and international funds
Average total return of diversified U.S. stock fund
25.31%
14.30%
24.30%
Total return of a broad U.S.-stock index
23.82%
23.40%
31.30%
Average total return of international stock fund
48.35%
3.90%
-0.20%
Total return of a broad foreign-stock index***
27.93%
18.80%
2.30%
*At yearend
**Wilshire 5000 Index
***MSCI World ex-U.S. ND Index
DATA: Morningstar, Business Week
Robert Barker
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Copyright 2000 , by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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