FYI: Nothing hampers a good money manager quite like a restrictive investment style. This can be especially so with bond managers, as bond returns are generally lower than those of stocks and often similar for specific kinds of bonds that move in lockstep with another, so long as none default.
Of course, flexibility’s no guarantee of success. After deducting their fees, managers with bad luck or little skill will underperform their benchmarks even more than index-hugging peers if they choose to “think outside the box” with the wrong securities. But for a skilled manager, a go-anywhere style will produce the best results.
Such is the case with Adam Weigold of Eaton Vance Municipal Opportunities (ticker: EMOAX).
“We started this fund in 2011 as one that would have full flexibility to go anywhere in the muni market and essentially seek out the best returns,” Weigold says. “Back then, that was very unusual in our market.” Such flexibility has enabled him to beat his benchmark—the Bloomberg Barclays Municipal Bond Index—and 97% of his peers in Morningstar’s Muni National Intermediate fund category over the past five years. The $1 billion fund’s cumulative return since its May 2011 inception is 42%, versus the benchmark’s 31%, and almost double the fund category’s 23% average.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/municipal-bond-investor-eaton-vance-1541084843M* Snapshot EMOAX:
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/XNAS/EMOAX/quote.htmlLipper Snapshot EMOAX:
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/emoaxEMOAX Is Unranked In The (MNI) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:
https://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/muni-national-interm/eaton-vance-municipal-opportunities-fund/emoax
