Balanced funds offer investors the convenience of buying into a single fund rather than holding both equity and bond funds. This category of funds also reduces a portfolio’s volatility while providing higher returns than pure fixed-income investments.
The fund managers also enjoy the flexibility of changing the proportion of equity and fixed-income investments in response to market conditions. An upswing may prompt them to hold a relatively higher share of equity to maximize gains, whereas a downturn will see them shifting loyalties toward fixed-income investments to stem losses.
Below, we share with you three balanced mutual funds, viz. Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund DODBX, State Farm Balanced Fund STFBX and Fidelity Advisor Balanced Fund FAIGX. Each has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future. Investors can click here to see the complete list of funds.
Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund seeks long-term growth capital appreciation along with current income by investing most of its net assets in a diversified portfolio of equity and debt securities in various proportions. DODBX advisors may also invest a small portion of their net assets in U.S. dollar-denominated equity or debt securities of foreign issuers traded in the United States but not part of the S&P 500 Index.
Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund has three-year annualized returns of 8%. As of the end of September 2023, DODBX had 87 issues and 2.3% of its net assets invested in Occidental Petroleum.
State Farm Balanced Fund invests most of its net assets in equity securities of preferably large and medium-cap companies. STFBX advisors consider large and medium-cap companies as defined by S&P Dow Jones Indices at the time of investment.
State Farm Balanced Fund has three-year annualized returns of 6.5%. STFBX has an expense ratio of 0.14% compared with the category average of 0.84%.
Fidelity Advisor Balanced fund invests most of its net assets in equity securities, bonds and other debt securities, including lower-quality debt securities, otherwise known as junk bonds. FAIGX advisors also invest a small portion of its net assets in fixed-income senior securities.
Fidelity Advisor Balanced fund has three-year annualized returns of 5%. Steven Kaye has been one of the fund managers of FAIGX since September 2008.
To view the Zacks Rank and the past performance of all balanced mutual funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of funds.
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Zacks Names "Single Best Pick to Double"
From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.
It’s a little-known chemical company that’s up 65% over last year, yet still dirt cheap. With unrelenting demand, soaring 2022 earnings estimates, and $1.5 billion for repurchasing shares, retail investors could jump in at any time.
This company could rival or surpass other recent Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Boston Beer Company which shot up +143.0% in little more than 9 months and NVIDIA which boomed +175.9% in one year.
Free: See Our Top Stock and 4 Runners Up >>View All Zacks #1 Ranked Mutual Funds
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
