In September, Morningstar analysts upgraded four U.S. mutual fund ratings and downgraded six. In addition, analysts affirmed ratings for 62 funds and one target-date series. New ratings were also assigned for two funds and one target-risk series.
The upgraded funds (all from Neutral to Bronze) are:
- Fidelity Advisor® Diversified Intl A
- Fidelity® Diversified International
- Lord Abbett High Yield A
- Principal Global Div Inc A
The downgraded funds (all from Neutral to Bronze) are:
- Buffalo Small Cap (Bronze to Neutral)
- Fidelity Spartan® Extended Mkt Index Inv (Gold to Silver)
- Matthews Pacific Tiger Investor (Gold to Silver)
- Neuberger Berman Guardian Inv (Silver to Neutral)
- Neuberger Berman Socially Rspns Inv (Silver to Bronze)
- Royce Pennsylvania Mutual Invmt (Silver to Neutral)
The funds/target-risk series with new ratings are:
- Metropolitan West Unconstrained Bd I (Neutral)
- Principal SAM Target-Risk Series (Neutral)
- Vanguard Instl Ttl Stk Mkt Idx InstlPls (Gold)
A list of the Analyst Ratings for the 62 U.S. funds and one target-date series that Morningstar affirmed in September is available here.
Morningstar’s Analyst Ratings represent the firm’s conviction in a fund's ability to outperform its peers and/or relevant benchmarks on a risk-adjusted basis over a market cycle of at least five years. As of Sept. 30, 2015, Morningstar analysts had assigned a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Gold to 132 unique U.S. funds, a Silver rating to 278 funds, a Bronze rating to 349 funds, a Neutral rating to 274 funds, and a Negative rating to 32 funds.