A Fundamental Approach With Vanguard Energy

Nick Watson: Vanguard Energy takes a disciplined approach to the energy market's ups and downs. Its capable management, deep analyst team, and low fees earn it a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver.

While Vanguard's Quantitative Equity Group manages a small portion of this fund, the majority of assets are run by Greg LeBlanc's team at Wellington Management. Unlike some competitors, they don't make top-down macro bets on the energy market. Rather, LeBlanc and his team of six veteran analysts take a fundamental approach--identifying companies with strong management, quality balance sheets, and promising project pipelines. They do keep large-scale energy market trends in mind, but the success of their approach doesn't hinge on correctly forecasting oil prices, for instance.