What Investors Were Researching in April
Investors remained focused on moats and income in April, while plummeting gold prices raised interest in gold-focused ETFs.
Commentary
Stocks added on to big first-quarter gains in April. The broad-based Morningstar US Market Index was up 2.2% in the month after posting a return of more than 11% in the first quarter and a 16% return in 2012.
The month's market news was mostly dominated by earnings reports. By and large, earnings were unexciting. Results were generally in line with expectations, but many analysts were disappointed by outlooks for the second quarter and the rest of 2013. Management teams remain very cautious in the face of intense economic pressure in Europe, slowing emerging-markets growth, and continued uncertainty in the United States. One sector, that came in well below expectations was technology. A sharp decline in PC sales in the first quarter, some product-cycle changes, and a lull in enterprise-hardware spending hit firms such as
International Business Machines hard.
Economic data was a mixed bag last month. Readings on manufacturing, jobs, housing, and other sectors showed that the U.S. economy was not careening toward a recession, but it wasn't in a boom time either.
So why did stocks keep rising against this backdrop? Morningstar's director of economic analysis Bob Johnson thinks the primary driver is that middling economic data has soothed investor fears that the Fed was going to take its foot off the bond-buying pedal. With the economy stuck in slow-growth mode, it is much less likely that the Fed will begin tightening anytime soon.
Gold was also in the headlines during April, as the commodity fell precipitously. A fear of central bank sales, momentum, and the Chinese economic slowdown appeared to be the biggest drivers.
Against this backdrop, what were investors checking out on Morningstar.com during the month? Below are the 25 most viewed stock, mutual fund, and exchange-traded fund reports in April.
| Most Viewed Stock Analyst Reports in April 2013 | ||||
 | | | | |
| Name | Ticker | Moat | Star Rating | March Return |
 | ||||
| Apple | AAPL | Narrow |  | 0% |
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| National Oilwell Varco | NOV | Wide | | -8% |
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| General Electric | GE | Wide | | -4% |
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| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | Wide |  | 5% |
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| Intel | INTC | Wide | | 10% |
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| Exxon Mobil | XOM | Wide | | -1% |
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| Suncor Energy | SU | Narrow |  | 4% |
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| Caterpillar | CAT | Wide | | -2% |
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| Cisco Systems | CSCO | Wide | | 1% |
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| BHP Billiton | BHP | Narrow | | -2% |
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| Wells Fargo | WFC | Narrow | | 3% |
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| Microsoft | MSFT | Wide | | 16% |
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| Chevron | CVX | Narrow | | 3% |
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| Alcoa | AA | Narrow | | 0% |
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| FB | Wide | | 9% | |
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| Apache | APA | Narrow | | -4% |
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| Exelon | EXC | Wide | | 9% |
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| KDDI | KDDIY | Narrow | Under Review | 17% |
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| France Telecom | FTE | Narrow | | 5% |
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| Baidu | BIDU | Narrow | | -2% |
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| Coca-Cola | KO | Wide | | 5% |
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| AT&T | T | Narrow |  | 3% |
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| eBay | EBAY | Wide | | -3% |
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| Western Union | WU | Wide | | -2% |
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| Daimler | DDAIF | None | | 6% |
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| Source: Morningstar |
Apple once again dominated the most viewed reports in the month. Two wide-moat names trading under their fair value estimates, National Oilwell Varco and General Electric , rounded out the top three. Investors kept their focus on moats last month, with only one of the most researched stocks
( Daimler ) having no moat.
| Most Viewed Open-End Fund Analyst Reports in April 2013 | ||||
| | | | |
| Name | Ticker | Morningstar Category | Star Rating | March Return |
| ||||
| Vanguard Cap Opp | VHCOX | Large Growth | | 3% |
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| Vanguard Div Growth | VDIGX | Large Blend | | 3% |
| Fidelity Sml Cap Disc | FSCRX | Small Blend | | -1% |
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| Vanguard Wellington | VWELX | Mod Allocation | | 2% |
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| Yacktman | YACKX | Large Blend | | 2% |
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| Vanguard Wellsly Inc | VWINX | Conserv Allocation | | 2% |
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| Fidelity Flt Rt High Inc | FFRHX | Bank Loan | | 1% |
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| Dodge & Cox Intl Stk | DODFX | Foreign Lg Blend | | 4% |
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| Primecap Odsy Ag Gr | POAGX | Mid-Cap Growth | | 1% |
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| Dodge & Cox Glbl Stk | DODWX | World Stock | | 3% |
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| Fidelity Contrafund | FCNTX | Large Growth | | 2% |
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| Dodge & Cox Income | DODIX | Interm-Term Bond | | 1% |
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| PIMCO Total Return | PTTRX | Interm-Term Bond | | 1% |
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| FMI Large Cap | FMIHX | Large Blend | | 2% |
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| Oakmark Intl | OAKIX | Foreign Lg Blend | | 6% |
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| T. Rowe Eq Inc | PRFDX | Large Value | | 2% |
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| Primecap Odsy Gr | POGRX | Large Growth | | 3% |
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| Primecap Odsy Stk | POSKX | Large Blend | | 2% |
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| Fidelity Strtgic Inc | FSICX | Multisector Bond | | 2% |
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| Oakmark Global | OAKGX | World Stock | | 4% |
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| Dodge & Cox Stock | DODGX | Large Value | | 2% |
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| Fidelity New Mkts Inc | FNMIX | Emerg Mkts Bond | | 2% |
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| T. Rowe Cap Apprec | PRWCX | Mod Allocation | | 1% |
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| Templeton Global Bd | TPINX | World Bond | | 2% |
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| FPA Crescent | FPACX | Mod Allocation | | 2% |
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| Source: Morningstar |
Vanguard Capital Opportunity was the most researched fund, moving up from the 23rd most read Analyst Report last month. Alternative sources of income appear to be top-of-mind for many researchers, as investors checked out dividend-focused funds ( Vanguard Dividend Growth ), bank-loan funds ( Fidelity Floating Rate High Income ), and world-bond offerings ( Templeton Global Bond ).
| Most Viewed ETF Analyst Reports in April 2013 | ||
| | |
| Name | Ticker | March Return |
| ||
| Vanguard Dividend Appreciation | VIG | 2% |
| ||
| SPDR Gold Shares | GLD | -8% |
| ||
| Vanguard High Div Yield Indx ETF | VYM | 3% |
| ||
| Vanguard REIT Index ETF | VNQ | 7% |
| ||
| JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN | AMJ | 2% |
| ||
| PIMCO Total Return ETF | BOND | 1% |
| ||
| Vanguard FTSE Emerg Markets ETF | VWO | 1% |
| ||
| iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stk Idx | PFF | 1% |
| ||
| ALPS Alerian MLP ETF | AMLP | 0% |
| ||
| iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | IVV | 2% |
| ||
| Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF | VDC | 3% |
| ||
| Vanguard Glbl ex-US Real Est ETF | VNQI | 7% |
| ||
| WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity | DXJ | 10% |
| ||
| iShares MSCI Emg Mkt Min Vol Idx | EEMV | 3% |
| ||
| Vanguard Small Cap Value ETF | VBR | 0% |
| ||
| Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF | BND | 1% |
| ||
| iShares Gold Trust | IAU | -8% |
| ||
| iShares MSCI USA Min Volatility | USMV | 3% |
| ||
| Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF | GDX | -20% |
| ||
| PowerShares Intl Div Achievers | PID | 2% |
| ||
| PowerShares S&P 500 Low Vol | SPLV | 4% |
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| WisdomTree Emg Mkt SmallCap Div | DGS | 2% |
| ||
| PowerShares Senior Loan Port | BKLN | 1% |
| ||
| PIMCO Enhanced Short Mturty ETF | MINT | 0% |
| ||
| SPDR S&P Dividend | SDY | 2% |
| ||
| ||
| Source: Morningstar |
The plunge in gold prices led to increased interest in gold exchange-traded funds such as SPDR Gold Shares , iShares Gold Trust , and Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF . Beyond gold, income-producing investments such as Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF and JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN dominated the most researched ETFs.
Star ratings as of May 7. All other data as of May 30.