Overview tab
The overview page gives a snapshot of the detailed data contained within the other pages of the fact sheet.
Where appropriate, links have been added so that you can see the definitions of certain data items.
Performance history
The chart shows what would have happened to an initial investment of £1,000 had it been invested in the fund, plotted against the average performance of all the funds in the relevant
Morningstar category as well as the performance of the appropriate index for that Morningstar category.
Below the chart, you can find the percentage returns for the fund, its category and the index broken down into calendar years.
This section gives your chosen fund’s percentage returns over a series of standard time periods, to the date shown.
For periods of more than one year, the returns are shown on an annualised basis. The box also shows the 12 month yield for the fund, where appropriate (see last week’s article to better understand fund yield)
Remember that all performance figures show how a security has performed in the past and in no way indicate how it will perform in the future.
Key Stats
This section gives a brief summary of some of the non-performance data associated with the fund. Follow the links for definitions.
Morningstar Category - This is used throughout the factsheet to compare your chosen fund’s attributes to those of similar funds
IMA Sector - The classification of the fund by the Investment Management Association (the UK trade body for the asset management industry)
ISIN – International Standard Identification Number: a useful identifier when searching for the fund
NAV/Bid – The latest price of the fund on the date shown
Day Change – The change in value of the fund from the previous day
Manager Name
Fund Benchmark – The index or combination of indices that the fund has selected for comparative performance measurement
Morningstar Benchmark – The index that is used for a particular Morningstar category
Investment Objective - The fund manager’s stated goal for the money invested.
Portfolio Profile
This section gives a brief overview of the main assets or holdings of the fund, broken down by type (i.e. stock, bond, etc).
For equity funds the holdings are also broken down by the region and sector that the holdings are categorised into.
For bond funds the holdings are broken down according to their credit quality, duration and maturity.
To help you instantly visualise the predominant style of an investment, Morningstar provides Equity Fund Style Boxes and Bond Fund Style Boxes.
You might want to read more about the Style Box methodology.
Next week, we will take a more in-depth look at analyst research, portfolio holdings and risk and return measurements.