Q: I have shares of Fidelity Trend Fund, which don’t seem all that great. Should I hold on?
R.C., via the Internet
A: The most important recent event at this 50-year-old fund was the naming of Jeffrey Feingold as portfolio manager just over a year ago.
Feingold, who succeeded with several other Fidelity funds, has switched the fund away from its prior benchmark, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. He shifted its focus to the Russell 1000 Growth index, which meant unloading some of its stodgier holdings in favor of true growth stocks.
Through Tuesday, the $995 million Fidelity Trend Fund (FTRNX) has a 12-month loss of 2.6 percent, which ranks in the top one-third of large growth funds, and a three-year annualized return of 8.5 percent, placing it in the top one-fifth.
“Because I don’t see any huge reason to purchase this fund over and above several other Fidelity large-cap growth funds, I do not recommend it,” said Jim Lowell, editor of the independent Fidelity Investor newsletter in Needham, Mass. “It is hard for Fidelity managers to outperform even their own peer group at Fidelity, and this fund simply doesn’t do that.”
The inherent weakness of the fund’s concept, in Lowell’s eyes, is that determining what constitutes a trend is left entirely to the assessment of the portfolio manager. That uncertain interpretation is especially drawn into question when the managers change, as has happened with some frequency at the fund.
“Shareholders are at the whim of whatever the current manager thinks is a trend,” Lowell said.
Feingold builds a portfolio of about 100 stocks whose earnings he believes can provide some positive surprises. He looks closely at insider buying and selling trends. He has about one-fourth of the fund in foreign stocks.
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Technology hardware, industrial materials and health care are the three largest concentrations in the portfolio. Its top stock holdings were recently Monsanto Co., Cisco Systems Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Inverness Medical innovations Inc., Microsoft Corp., McDonald’s Corp., Google Inc., Applied Materials Inc., Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. and Molson Coors Brewing Co.
This “no-load” (no sales charge) fund requires a $2,500 minimum initial investment and has an annual expense ratio of 0.83 percent.
Q: What is the best way to transfer money from one bank certificate of deposit to another bank’s CD? Can I somehow get the money moved easily from one institution to another without paying a fee?
D.H., via the Internet
A: A real-time method of immediately transferring funds between two financial institutions is the wire transfer. But it usually requires a fee of around $20.
“A wire transfer is the best way because it is so simple, easy and quick,” said Greg McBride, financial analyst with Bankrate.com in North Palm Beach, Fla.
You also could go to your bank to obtain a cashier’s check for the amount and take it to another bank. But many people move the money to a distant bank or brokerage-offered CD, McBride said, so that hands-on method doesn’t always work so well.
Finally, there is free transfer through the Automated Clearing House, which stores transactions received and processes them in batches before connecting the information of the two banks. This can have a time lag of up to two or three days and, therefore, may not be the best choice if you are trying to move the CD money quickly before it automatically rolls over, McBride said.
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Andrew Leckey is a Tribune Media Services columnist. E-mail him at yourmoney @tribune.com.