Mutual Fund Investing
These Funds Hoard Big-Volume Stocks
Kevin Baker
05/07/08 - 09:06 AM EDT
We looked at which funds are hoarding big-volume stocks -- those that tend to be the most heavily traded.
All the companies mentioned in this article average more than $1 billion of market activity each day.
Five of the $1 billion-plus stocks are centered around the Internet and technology space. AppleAAPL represented over 13% of the C- rated Berkshire Focus FundBFOCX at year's end.
The E+ rated Oak Associates Funds - Pin Oak Aggressive Stock FundPOGSX has Yahoo!YHOO as its top holding.
MicrosoftMSFT is the third-biggest holding of the C rated Old Mutual Focused FundOAFCX. Cisco SystemsCSCO is tops at Rydex Series-Internet FundRYINX, currently rated E+.
Finally, IntelINTC accounts for about one quarter of all invested assets of the E- rated, ProFunds-Semiconductor UltraSector Inv ProFundSMPIX.
The next three companies are still considered highly advanced technologically; however, their mission is to keep us healthy. Both Merck & CoMRK and PfizerPFE are concentrated atop the list of ProFunds Pharmaceutical UltraSector Inv ProFundPHPIX holdings.
While they deliver the life-saving drugs, Procter & GamblePG dominates the consumer-product related health care sector, and is the biggest holding of the C+ rated ProFunds Consumer Goods UltraSector Inv ProFundCNPIX.
The next two companies are stock-market behemoths. Wal-Mart StoresWMT is gobbling up business from mom-and-pop retailers, while the D- rated Rydex Series - Retailing FundRYRTX seems to have tried to do the same with Wal-Mart shares.
Another large company, General ElectricGE, has bought so many companies in the last 122 years that it has been compared to a mutual fund. The A rated Vanguard Industrials Index Adm FundVINAX has about one-fifth of its assets in shares of GE.
Three of the most highly liquid shares are also the top three holdings of the E- rated ProFunds-Bank UltraSector Inv ProFundBKPIX. CitigroupC, Bank of AmericaBAC, and JPMorgan ChaseJPM all regularly trade more than $1 billion of shares per day.
Lastly, the price of a barrel of oil bounced right back. Energy stocks like Exxon MobilXOM, ChevronCVX and ConocoPhillipsCOP are still among the most heavily traded.
These are the top three holdings of the B- rated ProFunds - Oil & Gas UltraSector Inv ProFundENPIX and the C+ rated Vanguard Energy Index Adm FundVENAX. The former has the higher concentration of Exxon Mobil, while the latter holds proportionally more of the other two.
Important disclaimer: These stocks are so liquid that any of the above funds may have already liquidated their position in these companies by the time you read this article.
For an explanation of our ratings, click here.