Baird

A bond-heavy blend of asset management businesses.

Baird continues to merit a High Parent rating.

Although Robert W. Baird and Co.’s origins date to 1919, its Milwaukee-based asset management business has, over more than a quarter-century, grown into an industry stalwart through deft talent acquisition. In early 2000, senior leaders from rival Firstar Investment Research & Management Co. joined to form the fixed-income-focused Baird Advisors. With modest fees and an effective, benchmark-aware approach, Baird’s collaborative taxable bond team runs the lion’s share of its assets under management. The firm bolstered its municipal bond expertise in mid-2015 and in August 2019; that part of the business now has considerable promise as well.

Baird’s equity efforts are smaller and more geographically diffuse but also center on the opportunistic addition of talent. Baird Equity Asset Management purchased the international and global growth equity team of Colorado-based Chautauqua Capital Management in 2016, and in late 2021, it strengthened ties with proven Baltimore-based investor Joseph Milano, formerly of T. Rowe Price, while removing a small value team that had struggled over the prior decade.

Another facet of Baird stems from the parent company’s 2018 acquisition of Strategas, a New York-based institutional brokerage firm that provides macro research, capital market, and advisory services. Strategas now offers three thematic equity exchange-traded funds through a partnership with Vident Asset Management, the biggest of which is Strategas Macro Thematic Opportunities. This ETF has cycled through at least 15 themes since its early 2022 inception while turning its portfolio over about 1-1.5 times per year and often holding hefty cash stakes that in April 2025 consistently exceeded 20%. Performance has been strong within its large-blend peer group thus far, but the ETF through late February 2026 modestly lagged the S&P 500 over its lifetime.

Each asset management business faces its own challenges. At Baird Advisors, succession bears monitoring as each of the firm’s four senior leaders from Firmco is now a veteran of more than 40 years. Baird Equity Asset Management’s strategies have a mixed record that requires the right balance of patience, support, and, if necessary, change. Strategas’ approach, which is hardly staid, must show it offers enduring value to investors who can achieve broad market equity exposure through passive options for a fraction of the cost.

With more than 95% of its assets under management in fixed income strategies, Baird’s bond-heavy blend of asset management businesses serves investors well. Backed by a strong parent company, Baird offers reliable active strategies at a reasonable cost that can serve as a cornerstone for the fixed-income portion of portfolios while complementing the equity side.

Note: This share class' Parent Pillar rating is analyst-driven, as its Branding Name, Baird (Branding Name ID: BN0000083W), is covered by Morningstar Manager Research.