New ratings for seven U.S. funds and six target-date series marked Morningstar’s November actions, as well as five fund upgrades and three downgrades.
It also published rating activity for 169 U.S. open-end mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and eight target-date series. Analysts upgraded ratings for five funds, downgraded ratings for three funds, affirmed ratings for 148 funds and two target-date series, and placed six funds under review.
“Last month we lowered Oakmark Select’s Morningstar Analyst Rating from Gold to Silver following its stumbles in energy and other errors of omission. This strategy depends on standout stock-picking to succeed, and execution has not been consistent enough to merit the highest Morningstar Medalist rating,” Laura Pavlenko Lutton, Morningstar’s director of manager research for North America, said in a statement.
Lutton added, “On the flip side, the rating for Schwab US TIPS ETF was raised to Gold from Silver because of its sizeable fee advantage in a category that’s been tough for active management. This low-cost ETF has an effective process that protects against inflation by accurately representing the Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, or TIPS, market, mitigates transaction costs, and avoids key person risk.”
(Related: Morningstar’s October Winners & Losers)