• Get a first look at AAII’s enhanced mutual fund and ETF screeners
• Explore the improved usability and added flexibility of the screening criteria
• Find out how to access your saved screens and predefined filters more easily

We released redesigned versions of AAII’s mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) screeners. These screeners are part of our A+ Investor and Platinum services. AAII basic and life members who use our mutual fund and ETF guides will also benefit from their enhanced and more user-friendly interface.

We first discuss how to use the new interface to find and analyze funds for all AAII members. Then, we share some of the upgraded features offered by the new screeners.

Comparing and Contrasting Funds

The biggest change you will notice is the new tabular format the fund data is presented in. As shown in Figure 1, the data is displayed by easy-to-understand categories: Overview, Performance (NAV), Performance (Price)—for ETFs only—Risk, Portfolio and Management & Fees. This improved tabular format is included in the new screener and will also be used in the online mutual fund and ETF guides starting in February.

Figure 1. ETF Screener and ETF Guide Display

Source: Morningstar and AAII. Data as of 10/31/2023.

The following is an overview of each tab along with some insights into the key data provided.

Overview: The fund’s global asset class, fund group and category describe the type of investments a fund targets. If the fund is passively managed and/or tracks an index, you’ll see it here. Key information about the fund such as recent performance (returns and A+ Investor Grades), yield, expense ratio and inception date are included as part of the overview in this section.

Performance (NAV): Absolute and annualized returns plus the A+ Investor Grades for those returns are presented for periods ranging from one-month to 10-year annualized returns. The A+ Grades reflect quintile rankings. Grades of A are assigned to funds whose returns rank in the highest 20% for their category over a given period. Grades of F are assigned to funds whose returns rank in the lowest 20% for their category over a given period.

Performance (Price): This tab only appears in the ETF guide and screener. It measures return based on changes in the ETF’s share price as opposed to the change in the value of its underlying assets. Year-to-date tracking error is a new field. This figure looks at the volatility in the difference of performance between the fund and its index. This metric is displayed next to the YTD Return (Price) and YTD Grade (Price) columns.

Risk: The two primary ways fund risk is measured are category risk and total risk. The category risk index shows how proportionately volatile a fund is relative to its peers. A value above 1.00 is assigned to funds that have been more volatile than their peers over the last three years. A value below 1.00 signals below-average volatility. A+ Investor Grades of A are assigned to the funds with the lowest relative volatility; grades of F are assigned to the funds with the highest relative volatility. The total risk index is similar except that it compares each fund’s volatility to the entire universe of mutual funds or ETFs. Among the newly added data are standard deviation (an absolute measure of volatility) and alpha (how much a fund’s manager contributed to or diminished returns).

Portfolio: Details about the fund’s portfolio can be found here, including asset size, allocations, the percentage that the fund’s largest holdings account for, turnover and whether the fund is classified as being socially responsible. Newly added are a share class assets total and an enhanced index fund check mark. Share class assets gives the total dollar amount of a fund’s assets attributed to a specific share class. Depending on the mutual fund or—in the case of Vanguard—ETF, share class assets can be equal to or smaller than a fund’s total assets. Funds marked as enhanced index funds seek to add return or reduce volatility relative to the index they track.

Management & Fees: The tenure of the current manager plus the fund’s expense ratio and tax-cost ratio are presented in this tab. The expense ratio grade is also shown. Funds whose expense ratios rank in the lowest 20% of their category are awarded grades of A. Funds whose expense ratios rank in the highest 20% of their category are given grades of F. The lead manager is also a new addition. “Management Team” is listed in this collum for funds managed by a team without a single lead manager.

Enhancements to the Fund Screeners

The entire screening interface has been rebuilt, not just the display of the mutual fund and ETF data. A+ Investor and Platinum subscribers will find the new interface to be much faster. All available filters are displayed simultaneously on the screen. Figure 2 gives a preview of some of the screening filters available. Once initial filters have been selected and applied, additional choices can be made to further narrow down results. Filters can be added to or deleted from screens as needed.

Figure 2. Mutual Fund Screening Filters

For screening functionality, we’ve added more flexibility. Total returns and expense ratios can be screened based on values you enter (e.g., returns above 10%) and by category rank, as shown in Figure 3. Share asset classes are now searchable, which can make a difference for certain funds. The ability to select or deselect different share classes has been greatly expanded. Additionally, maximum amounts can be set for loads and 12b-1 fees (though we suggest focusing on no-load funds first).

Figure 3. Mutual Fund Screener Interface

Saving and accessing saved screens is now easier than before. So is accessing predefined (“First Cut”) screens. All can be accessed from the left-hand navigation bar. Tickers can be entered in the search field next to the green Export to Excel button. Searching for a ticker will display funds or ETFs containing that string of characters in the ticker. For example, entering “QQQ” in the ticker field on the ETF screener yields 11 ETFs that have “QQQ” in the ticker, including the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ).

Coming Soon!

We think you will find the new guide and screener interfaces to be a nice upgrade, and the screeners to be even more powerful than before. Our plans are to continue upgrading the mutual fund and ETF interfaces, providing even more utility and valuable functionality.

A+ Investor and Platinum subscribers can try out the beta versions of the screeners at https://www.aaii.com/screens/etf and https://www.aaii.com/screens/funds. Let us know what you think.

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