Best flows at worst performing funds

One investor’s loss can be another’s buying opportunity — just look at the cash flows these losing funds raked in over the past year.

We considered funds with at least $100 million in assets that posted a loss over the past 12 months and ranked them by their inflows over that time. The average inflow was $667 million; the average return was -9%.

While performance chasing gets a lot of attention, this list shows the opposite trend can quietly happen at the same time. That is, these investors are buying on the downside, possibly due to a disciplined dollar-cost averaging strategy, in hopes of an upturn. Indeed, 2017 numbers show that the pendulum does swing. Year-to-date performance for these funds, while still averaging a loss, was less than -1%. The median was almost 5%.

Moreover, the fact that more than half of these funds are in real estate, with the rest being in oil or gold, suggests tactical buying rather than a long-term strategic strategy.

Scroll through to see the biggest cash inflows from funds that have posted a loss for the past 12 months. All data from Morningstar.

1-Yr. Flows (millions): $45
1-Yr. Returns: -1.25%
Expense Ratio: 0.83%
Total Assets (millions): $847