Adept Stock-Picking Boosts This Large-Value Fund

Tony Thomas: Principal Equity Income earns a Bronze rating for its capable management team, straightforward process, and attractive risk/reward profile.

Managers Dan Coleman and Dave Simpson, of Seattle-based Edge Asset Management, are veteran investors with a pragmatic approach to their team. Both managers brought this fund back to its roots in large-cap dividend payers, and they've taken sensible steps to ensure continuity here, recently naming an associate portfolio manager and fleshing out their research team.

Their process is simple but effective. They target firms with competitive yields and enough cash left over to invest in future growth. That's why the managers like Apple, one of the fund's top holdings. Furthermore, good, patient execution on this process has given the fund a performance edge. Its annualized gains since Coleman and Simpson joined forces are top quintile in its large-value category, and its risk-adjusted returns are solid to boot. Using dividends as their main filter, Coleman and Simpson are proving to be adept stock-pickers.