Our Two Favourite Universal Funds

Article Excerpt

UNIVERSAL CANADIAN GROWTH FUND $16.35 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (Mackenzie Financial Corp., 150 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3B5. Web site: www.mackenziefinancial.com. Tel: 1-800-387-0780; Load fund: available from brokers) holds companies with strong management and sound business prospects. The fund holds fewer than 40 stocks at all times. Universal Canadian’s top holdings include Thomson Reuters, Rogers Communications, Edwards Lifesciences, ShawCor, John Wiley & Sons, Dun & Bradstreet, Enerflex Systems, EnCana Corporation and Research in Motion. The fund’s breakdown by economic sector is as follows: 17.7% in Consumer Discretionary, 16.5% in Information Technology, 13.5% in Energy, 7.1% in Health Care, 6.3% in Telecommunications Services and 5.1% in Metals & Minerals. The $762-million Universal Canadian Growth Fund now holds over 25% of its assets in cash. We don’t like the market-timing aspect of holding a relatively high cash balance, but it does leave the manager lots of room for bargain hunting. The fund lost 20.7% over the last year. That’s less than the S&P/TSX’s loss of…