ETF & Mutual Fund Research

Delivering broad coverage of ETFs and mutual funds to help advisors make informed investment recommendations and deliver clear insights to clients.

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ESSENTIAL, INDEPENDENT AND FORWARD-FOCUSED RESEARCH

Independent

Forward-Focused

Proven Performance

Advisors often develop investment strategies to help their clients reach goals that are years away or even decades away.

Does it make sense to use research based exclusively on past performance to analyze mutual funds and ETFs and make informed investment decisions?

CFRA PROVIDES A BALANCED,
FORWARD-FOCUSED APPROACH.

In addition to looking at past performance, CFRA also considers factors that could drive the future value of mutual funds and ETFs. This includes analyzing the quality of — and risks associated with — stock and bond holdings. CFRA’s research will help you clearly understand how these factors can impact performance over time.

  • Funds are ranked using both fund attributes and holdings-level analysis.
  • Fund attributes use relative performance and risk records, PLUS manager tenure and cost factors.
  • Holdings are scrutinized based on proprietary valuation and risk traits.

DID YOU KNOW?

CFRA has one of the largest, most experienced and respected research teams in the industry. You can rest assured that research from CFRA has been developed and reviewed by top-tier professionals.

The Research
Data and analysis of more than 1,860 equity and fixed income ETFs based on proprietary forward-looking analysis. More than 22,000 U.S. and global funds covered.

DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE ETF REPORT
DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE MUTUAL FUND REPORT

Includes

Includes pertinent trailing and forward-looking indicators based on an assessment of the underlying portfolio.

  • Performance analytics
  • Risk considerations
  • Cost factors
  • Peer comparisons
  • Overweight, marketweight and underweight rankings
Features
Easy to search by ranking, expense ratio and historical performance. Shows breakdowns by asset type, sector, sub-industry and top ten holdings.

DID YOU KNOW?

Some research firms also act as asset managers. CFRA delivers independent research. We focus exclusively on research because we don’t think it’s right to compete with our clients.

CASE STUDIES

These case studies illustrate how CFRA’s proprietary research approach can present a different perspective of a mutual fund’s future potential.

The Fund: Janus Henderson Growth & Income Fund (JAGIX) American Century Select Fund (TWCIX)
The Benefit: This fund earns a five-star rating because CFRA views it as an attractive, strong performer. This fund earns a higher star rating at CFRA than from other rating sources.
Why: CFRA’s proprietary research methodology helped uncover many positive attributes not considered by other research firms. CFRA went beyond past performance data and uncovered positive indicators and value metrics which pointed to greater future potential.
Additional factors considered by CFRA:
  • Management has overseen the fund for a relatively long time
  • The fund has a below-average standard deviation
  • It performs effectively with an 0.88 percent expense ratio
  • JAGIX has a 24 percent turnover rate that is lower than most peers
  • Top recent positions include respected companies like Altria, Boeing and Microsoft
  • The five-star rating for this fund is supported by many holdings viewed as low risk based on quality rankings and credit ratings
  • TWCIX is in the top quartile of Lipper’s It performs well with a below-average standard deviation
  • The fund manager has stayed the course over time
  • The fund delivers value to investors at a below-average 0.97 percent expense ratio Its modest 16 percent turnover rate is a plus
  • CFRA’s equity analysts consider the fund’s core holdings Apple,Home Depot and UnitedHealth Group to be attractively valued
  • Risk considerations are moderate according to S&P Global Quality Rankings and Credit Ratings
Bottom line: CFRA believes this fund is a solid five-star offering. From CFRA’s perspective, this fund is viewed as a winner.

FOR ASSET MANAGERS

CFRA Vitals provides an innovative way to promote your fund and ETF performance and can be a revenue-generating expense for fund marketers.

Many mutual fund and ETF marketers are looking for a better rating alternative. CFRA Vitals provides independent ratings that will highlight the value of your offerings based not just on past performance, but also on other factors that will impact future value.

SEE WHAT MAKES OUR ETF RESEARCH DIFFERENT

Check out these videos which offer a future-focused perspective on ETF investing.

CFRA & iShares on Trends in Fixed Income ETFs

CFRA & Inside ETFs on Trends In Smart Beta

CFRA & JP Morgan Asset Mgmt on Considering Alternatives in Your ETF Portofolio

Leading
Research

  • Proprietary research methodology focused on future performance, not just past results
  • Leading source of independent mutual fund, ETF and other research
  • Trusted for decades
  • Used by more than 125,000 financial advisors
  • Forensic accounting and legal expertise
  • 75+ strong research team

Company
Integrity

Many independent research providers claim to be conflict free, but they really aren’t. Independent research has always been at the heart of CFRA’s business model. We do not provide investment advisory services or manage portfolios because we don’t want to compete with our clients. Instead, we’ve always made it our mission to supply them with the best quality, forward-focused research.

Proven
Performance

As an independent and objective research provider, CFRA has the courage and integrity to call it like we see it on “Sell” ratings, without the influence of banking and trading relationships.

Top-Tier
Service

CFRA is one of the world’s largest independent research providers, but we’re still able to provide you with individualized help and support. We’re flexible enough to be able to integrate with your internal or external research reporting platforms.

Learn more about MarketScope Advisor

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Sam Stovall, CFP®
Chief Investment Strategist
CFRA, Equity and Fund Research

Sam Stovall is Chief Investment Strategist of U.S. Equity Strategy at CFRA. He serves as analyst, publisher and communicator of CFRA’s outlooks for the economy, market, and sectors. Sam is the Chairman of the CFRA Investment Policy Committee, where he focuses on market history and valuations, as well as industry momentum strategies. He is the author of The Standard & Poor’s Guide to Sector Investing and The Seven Rules of Wall Street. In addition, Sam writes a weekly investment piece, featured on CFRA’s MarketScope Advisor platform and his work is also found in the flagship weekly newsletter The Outlook.

Prior to joining S&P Global in 1989 and CFRA in 2016, Sam served as Editor In Chief at Argus Research, an independent investment research firm in New York City.

He holds an MBA in Finance from New York University and a B.A. in History/Education from Muhlenberg College, in Allentown, PA. He is a CFP® certificant and is a Trustee of the Securities Industry Institute®, the executive development program held annually at The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.

Follow Sam on Twitter: @StovallCFRA

Todd Rosenbluth
Senior Director of ETF and Mutual Fund Research
CFRA, Equity and Fund Research

Todd Rosenbluth is Senior Director of ETF and Mutual Fund Research at CFRA where he leads the firm’s holdings-based research efforts within the Equity Research and Fund group. Todd publishes regular thought leadership content on equity and fixed income products, maintains the quantitative fund models and supports client needs. He also serves as a member of Portfolio Strategy Committee and the Investment Policy Committee. Todd also held the position of Senior Director of ETF and Mutual Fund Research for S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Prior to joining CFRA, Todd previously served in other financial positions at S&P Global, such as International Mutual Fund Sector Specialist, Large Cap Value and Large Cap Growth Analyst and has served on the Fund Services Asset Allocation Committee. Prior to joining S&P Global in 2001, Todd was managing editor of Value Line Mutual Fund Survey and Senior Large Cap and Small Cap Value Mutual Fund Analyst. He was also a Financial Advisor with Morgan Stanley.

Todd holds a B.G.S in Finance from the University of Michigan and an MBA in Finance from New York University.

Follow Todd on Twitter at: @ToddCFRA

Lindsey Bell
Investment Strategist
CFRA Research

Lindsey Bell is an Investment Strategist at CFRA. Along with the Chief Investment Officer, she determines CFRA’s asset class allocation and equity sector level recommendations. She participates in projecting the firm’s 12-month S&P 500 price target. Her market observations and sector opinions are expressed in regular writings on CFRA’s MarketScope Advisor (MSA) platform. She oversees CFRA’s portfolio management committee which manages five portfolios of stocks. Finally, she also assists in authoring monthly European and Asian Investment Policy Committee (IPC) notes, also available on MSA. She is a frequent guest on FoxBusiness, CNBC, Bloomberg and Yahoo! Finance, etc.

Prior to joining CFRA, Lindsey worked as an Investment Strategist with S&P Global within the Investment Advisory Services division. She worked in several different capacities at TheStreet.com before that, from helping to manage Jim Cramer’s small and mid-cap Charitable Trusts, to leading trader blog conversations and writing research. She learned the ropes as an equity research analyst at J.P Morgan and Deutsche Bank covering retail companies, and began her career in investment banking with Jefferies & Company’s Mergers & Acquisition group.

Follow Lindsey on Twitter: @LBellCFRA

Tuna N. Amobi, CFA®, CPA®
Director & Industry Analyst
CFRA, Equity and Fund Research

Tuna is Director & Industry Analyst at CFRA. He is responsible for general oversight of the firm’s Consumer sector strategy and recommendations by a team of equity analysts, for hundreds of securities. He covers companies in the Internet Retail universe such as Amazon and Netflix, as well as media companies such as CBS, Comcast and Disney. Tuna previously held a similar position at S&P Global Market Intelligence where he led a core team that created and implemented a proprietary S&P Core Earnings® framework, also serving on the firm’s Analytical Policy Board. He currently authors a biannual industry survey called “Media”.

Prior to joining CFRA and S&P Global, Tuna was a Senior Equity Analyst at Lehman Brothers, New York. He participated in key decisions by the firm’s Investment Policy Committee and was highly instrumental in managing a multi-capitalization equity portfolio, with primary focus on the Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) sectors. Tuna also gained extensive global consulting experience in his previous roles at Arthur Andersen and KPMG.

Tuna earned an MBA in Finance from the Strathclyde University Business School in Scotland, U.K. He also holds a B.Sc. in Accounting from University of Nigeria as well as LL.B. (JD). Tuna is a CFA charterholder and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Peter de Boer
Chief Executive Officer
CFRA

Peter is the CEO at CFRA where he is responsible for the global strategic leadership of the firm. Peter acquired CFRA in March 2013. Previously he was Executive Managing Director at S&P Global. Prior to this role, Peter was Executive Director at Morgan Stanley and Vice President at JPMorgan where he helped develop leading Financial Technology investment banking practices. In addition, Peter was Vice President with LabMorgan, a JPMorgan venture capital division investing in financial information and technology companies. Peter graduated from Union College with a BA in Economics and holds an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Theresa Torian
Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer
CFRA

Theresa is the CFO & COO at CFRA, leading the company’s global financial and operational affairs. Theresa was most recently the Senior Director of Finance, Corporate Controller for SNL Financial (now part of S&P Global) where she worked for approximately ten years in helping the business to scale to $250 million in revenues and over 3,000 employees. Prior to SNL Financial, she was Director of Business Management with LexisNexis and a Consulting Manager with Grant Thornton LLP. Theresa graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in Mathematics and holds an MBA from the Raymond A. Mason School of Business, William & Mary.

Dan Concannon
Chief Revenue Officer
CFRA

Dan is the Chief Revenue Officer of CFRA where he oversees the company's global sales and marketing efforts. He has over 20 years of experience in sales management, team building and partner development including roles as the Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at WealthEngine and CEO of GMI Ratings, an independent provider of global corporate governance, forensic accounting and ESG ratings and research. As CEO, Dan led the company to a successful exit for shareholders through a sale to strategic acquirer, MSCI, Inc. He also served as Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) where he helped significantly increase revenues and actively participated in the sale to RiskMetrics Group (now part of MSCI, Inc.). Dan graduated from the University of Maryland and holds an MBA from Baruch College.

Zach Gast
Global Head of Research
CFRA

Zach is the Global Head of Research at CFRA, overseeing the company’s research, analytics and advisory services. Zach was formerly the Head of the Financial Institutions Research for CFRA. Prior to returning to CFRA, where he worked from 2005-2009, Zach was with Paulson & Co. and Paulson Europe where he covered financial institutions globally. He has also worked in microfinance internationally and testified before the U.S. House and Senate on small business lending and development. Zach graduated from Brown University with BAs in Political Science and Italian Studies and holds an MBA from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Eram Schlegel
Chief Technology Officer & Chief Product Officer
CFRA

Eram is the CTO and Chief Product officer at CFRA where he defines product strategy and leads technology innovation leveraging his 15 years of experience delivering commercially profitable client-centered solutions. Prior to joining CFRA, Eram was Senior Director of Commercial Solutions at Fitch Solutions for buy and sell-side markets. As Global Head of Desktop Product Development, he developed the strategy and launched the flagship Fitch Connect Web and Excel platform that accounted for over $100M of revenue targeting counterparty credit and credit markets. Prior to Fitch, Eram held product development roles at S&P Global and other information services firms. Eram graduated from Washington University in Saint Louis with a BS in Marketing & Strategy and holds an MA in Cognitive Science from Teacher’s College, Columbia University.

Heather Thomas
Global Head of Talent
CFRA

Heather is the Global Head of Talent, driving Talent strategy and related matters across the globe. Heather was most recently the Senior Director of Human Resources at SNL Financial (now part of S&P Global) where she worked for approximately 19 years helping the business scale to $250 million in revenue and over 3,000 employees. Prior to filling the HR role at SNL, Heather worked as the Director of SNL’s Content Operations. Heather graduated from Mary Baldwin College with a BA in Business Administration.

David Ibbeken
General Counsel
CFRA

David is CFRA’s General Counsel overseeing the company’s legal, regulatory and compliance matters. David served previously as Assistant General Counsel for S&P Global Market Intelligence, and as Senior Counsel for SNL Financial immediately prior thereto, where he handled a wide variety of legal matters. David graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in Economics and holds a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law.

David Holt
Research | DENVER, CO
David Holt
Industry Analyst
Denver CO
Years at firm: 4

“What makes CFRA unique is the delicate balance of skepticism, curiosity and conviction that we experience throughout the company.”

What makes CFRA special?
The diversity of views (both long and short) across the company, which drives prudent decisions free of bias. A rarity in our business.

What’s your favorite aspect of your job?
That the delicate balance of skepticism, curiosity and conviction can often be rewarded if correctly executed.

Can you describe your typical day at CFRA?
What makes your days at CFRA different than other jobs you have had?
At CFRA, your opinions and suggestions go further, which was something I had not experienced when working at larger corporations.

Paula Ruohoranta
EMEA SALES | LONDON, UK
Paula Ruohoranta
EMEA Sales
London
Years at firm: 1

“At CFRA, everyone shares the same values
and is dedicated to the mission…No egos, no politics.”

What makes CFRA special?
You always hear how first impression is the most important one. When I joined CFRA some 18 months ago, it was in a midst of a large RFP in EMEA. We had extremely tight deadline and very complex proposal to make. I was new, nobody knew me and I needed a lot of support. I am still amazed how everyone came together to help. Every department pitched in and went for that famous extra mile to meet the deadline. Still today, there is not a one single person I could not reach out to if I need help. In essence, that is what makes CFRA special.

What’s your favorite aspect of your job?
Independence. I am given the goals and know exactly how I’m measured, but I have the autonomy over my responsibilities and daily tasks.

Can you describe your typical day at CFRA?
Everyone shares the same values and is dedicated to the mission. Many companies talk about breaking down their silos, but here people do whatever it takes to get the job done – even if it’s not written in their job description. No egos, no politics. This is a first for me.

Ahmad Halim
Research | Kuala Lumpur
Ahmad Halim
Vice President, Equity Research
Kuala Lumpur
Years at firm: 10

“At CFRA, the degree of freedom and flexibility in conducting research, coupled with the emphasis on integrity, performance and excellence, provides a healthy working environment which encourages collaboration, analytical rigor and a continuous drive for incremental improvement, while remaining cognizant of the need for work-life balance.”

What makes CFRA special?
Having worked with a large multinational corporation for close to a decade, I can testify that CFRA feels a lot more close-knit, where what each and every individual does is important and plays a part in the overall direction of the business. As we continue to grow, I believe it is very important to maintain this aspect of who we are.

What’s your favorite aspect of your job?
Even after being in research for close to 15 years, I'm happy to find that there will always be new things to learn on a daily basis, new ways of doing things, new challenges to tackle, whether strictly in research or in the day-to-day management of CFRA Malaysia.

Can you describe your typical day at CFRA?
I think the degree of freedom and flexibility in conducting research, coupled with the emphasis on integrity, performance and excellence, provides a healthy working environment which encourages collaboration, analytical rigor and a continuous drive for incremental improvement, while remaining cognizant of the need for work-life balance.

Enitan Adebonojo
Bespoke Research | Rockville, MD
Enitan Adebonojo
Rockville, MD
Years at firm: 18

“I really enjoy helping clients uncover risks in their investment decisions, and thereby save money.”

What makes CFRA special?
People…even though I don’t get to work with everyone in our office as we expand and offer more products, I truly feel we are all on the same team, working towards the same goal of keeping our clients first in all that we do, by collaborating with each other to produce the best quality products that add value to our clients.

What’s your favorite aspect of your job?
Clients…Helping clients uncover risks in their investment decisions and thereby save money. It is really fun to uncover situations where management of public companies are trying to mislead investors.

Can you describe your typical day at CFRA?
People…I enjoy the work that I do, but more importantly I enjoy working and collaborating with our team.

Chris Schenkkan
Director of Finance | Charlottesville, VA
Chris Schenkkan
Charlottesville, VA
Years at firm: 1

“As a smaller company, everyone at CFRA is willing to wear whatever hat is needed on any given day, and do it well.”

What makes CFRA special?
There are numerous things, but one that stands out to me is the people. As a smaller company, everyone is willing to wear whatever hat is needed on any given day and do it well. I like the relaxed atmosphere combined with the fact that everyone is willing and able to buckle down when necessary. And, I think that’s embodied in our corporate culture where integrity and excellence are the expectation.

What’s your favorite aspect of your job?
A couple items. First, I really am thankful to be able to apply my education directly into my work. That has not always been the case in my career. Second, I’ve really enjoyed leading the financial audit process across all of our entities with our external auditors. It’s been a great learning process and has allowed me to develop a keener understanding of our financials across the company.

Can you describe your typical day at CFRA?
I work more closely with the senior management team on a more consistent basis. The insight into corporate strategy, goals, and performance has been welcome from a knowledge, understanding, and alignment perspective.

Paul Beland
Research | Rockville, MD
Paul Beland, CFA
Deputy Director of Research
Rockville MD
Years at firm: 1

“At CFRA, there’s an infectious intellectual
curiosity that permeates the
corporate culture.”

What makes CFRA special?
CFRA has the best corporate culture I’ve experienced in my long career, and it cascades down from the CEO to all employees. There’s a pride and a tireless purpose to be the best, but never at the expense of integrity.

What’s your favorite aspect of your job?
My favorite part of my job is heading analyst training. We host several training sessions each quarter on exciting topics like effective research writing, statistical analysis, valuation, and complex forensic accounting. And while we bring in external resources when needed, we have so many highly accomplished professionals and academics working at CFRA that enjoy cross-pollinating skills to other employees.

Can you describe your typical day at CFRA?
That’s a tough question. I think one of the reasons I’ve been working as a research analyst for nearly 20 years is that every day is different.

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