MOAT continues to outperform

MOAT continued its impressive performance stretch, which began a year ago, by posting strong returns in February relative to the broad US equity market.

Performance Overview

The US equity Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus Index™ (MOAT Index) continued its strong start to the year by outperforming the S&P 500 Index (3.82% vs. 2.66%) in February.

More takeovers: Buy Buy Baby

It’s been a wild ride for pharmaceutical and biotech companies since last year’s US presidential election, but Morningstar’s economic moat and valuation research within both industries benefited the US Moat Index as several of the top drivers of performance came from within those industries.

Materials firm Compass Minerals International (CMP US, -8.47%) struggled for the month and was the leading detractor from US Moat Index performance. CMP US, a producer of road de-icing salt, was negative impacted by a notable drop in road salt prices.

Infant formula company Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN US, +24.60%) benefited from corporate action news shortly after being added to the US Moat Index in December. News of an intended acquisition of MJN US by narrow moat UK conglomerate Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB GB) boosted shares of the company in February. MJN US joins other recent constituents to benefit from acquisition activity:

LinkedIn Corp.
St. Jude Medical, Inc., and
Time Warner, Inc.

^{Source: VanEck,
Morningstar. Stock returns in US dollars all other returns in Australian
dollars. Index returns are calculated to the last business day of the month and
assume immediate reinvestment of all dividends and exclude costs associated
with investing in MOAT. You cannot invest directly in an index. Past
performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance of the indices or
MOAT.} ^{IMPORTANT
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Investment in the US Fund may be subject to risks that
include, among others, fluctuations in value due to market and economic
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