Manulife Fundamental Equity Fund
When markets get loud, bring the focus back to what truly matters: the fundamentals. Manulife Fundamental Equity Fund sifts through a decade’s worth of financial statements to identify quality companies at a reasonable price. Rely on deep market expertise and a quality-focused investment approach that targets companies with strong capital efficiency and tangible cash flows.
Investing through inflation: a long-term lens
Patrick Blais, head of the Manulife Fundamental Equity Team, senior portfolio manager, shares the inflation outlook for the remainder of 2025, highlighting a long-term, normalized approach to inflation and how his team manages risk by avoiding overleveraged companies and assessing each stock’s resilience.
Discover three funds managed by our Fundamental Equity Team and honoured with the LSEG Lipper Fund Awards
Learn moreTargeting growth with downside protection
The Manulife Fundamental Equity Team focuses on delivering long-term outperformance for investors backed by strong downside protection.
Performance
| 1 year | 3 year | 5 year | 10 year | 15 year | 20 year | Since inception¹ | |
| Manulife Fundamental Equity Fund - Series F (MMF699) | 7.91 | 15.34 | 14.16 | 12.01 | 10.85 | 8.78 | 9.51 |
| Canadian Focused Equity Category | 16.44 | 14.76 | 12.95 | 9.51 | 9.52 | 7.38 | |
| Benchmark² | 25.86 | 17.49 | 14.98 | 10.82 | 9.22 | 8.16 | |
| Morningstar Ratingᵀᴹ | — | ★★★ | ★★★★ | ★★★★★ | — | — | — |
| Quartile ranking | 4ᵗʰ | 2ⁿᵈ | 2ⁿᵈ | 1ˢᵗ | 1ˢᵗ | 1ˢᵗ | |
| Percentage of peers beaten | 3% | 59% | 62% | 90% | 81% | 80% | — |
| Number of funds in category | 490 | 483 | 468 | 347 | 176 | — | — |
Source: Morningstar Direct, as of August 31, 2025. 1 The fund's inception date is February 11, 2004. 2 The benchmark is the S&P/TSX Composite Total Return Index.
Average rolling return performance (%)
When taking a longer-term view, rolling returns may offer a more holistic way of evaluating an investment’s performance over time. On a rolling return basis, Manulife Fundamental Equity Fund has outperformed its Morningstar peer fund category and index 100% of the time over all standard time periods.
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Proudly honoured with the FundGrade A+ Award for its performance in 2024
View all winners hereInvestment process
The Manulife Fundamental Equity Team believes that long-term stock returns are linked to a company’s ability to use its assets to generate income. To find such companies, the team uses a proprietary method of calculating economic earnings and cash-based return on capital. The investment approach is best characterized as style neutral, fundamental in nature, and done on a company-by-company basis.
Learn more about the team
Important disclosures
Important disclosures
About the Lipper Awards Methodology
LSEG Lipper Fund Awards, © 2025 LSEG. All rights reserved. Used under license.
The LSEG Lipper Fund Awards, granted annually, highlight funds and fund companies that have excelled in delivering consistently strong risk-adjusted performance relative to their peers.
The LSEG Lipper Fund Awards are based on the Lipper Leader for Consistent Return rating, which is an objective, quantitative, risk-adjusted performance measure calculated over 36, 60 and 120 months. The fund with the highest Lipper Leader for Consistent Return (Effective Return) value in each eligible classification wins the LSEG Lipper Fund Award. For more information, see lipperfundawards.com. Although LSEG Lipper makes reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data used to calculate the awards, their accuracy is not guaranteed.
Manulife Fundamental Equity Fund - series FT6 was awarded the 2024 LSEG Lipper Fund Award in the Canadian focused equity category for the 10 year period and calculation periods are through the end of July 2024. The corresponding Lipper Leader ratings of the fund as of August 31, 2025, are as follows: N/A (1 year), 3 (3 years) [537 funds], 3 (5 years) [517 funds], 5 (10 years) [389 funds].
Manulife Fundamental Balanced Class - series FT6 was awarded the 2024 LSEG Lipper Fund Award in the Canadian equity balanced category for the 10 year period and calculation periods are through the end of July 2024. The corresponding Lipper Leader ratings of the fund as of August 31, 2025, are as follows: N/A (1 year), 4 (3 years) [323 funds], 4 (5 years) [289 funds], 5 (10 years) [219 funds].
Manulife Tactical Income Fund - series F was awarded the 2024 LSEG Lipper Fund Award in the tactical balanced category for the 3 year period and calculation periods are through the end of July 2024. The corresponding Lipper Leader ratings of the fund as of August 31, 2025, are as follows: N/A (1 year), 5 (3 years) [282 funds], 5 (5 years) [272 funds], 5 (10 years) [169 funds].
Manulife Multifactor Developed International Index ETF - Hedged Units (MINT) was awarded the 2024 LSEG Lipper ETF Award in the international equity category for the 5 year period and calculation periods are through the end of July 2024. The corresponding Lipper Leader ratings of the fund as of August 31, 2025, are as follows: N/A (1 year), 5 (3 years) [673 funds], 5 (5 years) [624 funds].
Manulife Smart Core Bond ETF (BSKT) was awarded the 2024 LSEG Lipper Fund Awards Canada ETF Group Award for Best Group Over Past Three Years, Bond. Performance for the fund for the period ended August 31, 2025, is as follows: 3.29% (1 year), 4.33% (3 years), and -0.08% (since inception in November 20, 2020).
Manulife Smart Short-Term Bond ETF (TERM) was awarded the 2024 LSEG Lipper Fund Awards Canada ETF Group Award for Best Group Over Past Three Years, Bond. Performance for the fund for the period ended August 31, 2025, is as follows: 5.73% (1 year), 5.98% (3 years), and 2.53% (since inception in November 20, 2020).
Manulife Smart Corporate Bond ETF (CBND) was awarded the 2024 LSEG Lipper Fund Awards Canada ETF Group Award for Best Group Over Past Three Years, Bond. Performance for the fund for the period ended August 31, 2025, is as follows: 5.79% (1 year), 6.17% (3 years), and 1.68% (since inception in November 20, 2020).
Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the fund facts as well as the prospectus before investing. The indicated rates of return are the historical annual compounded total returns including changes in share/unit value and reinvestment of all dividends/distributions and do not take into account sales, redemption, distribution or optional charges or income taxes payable by any security holder that would have reduced returns. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently, and past performance may not be repeated.
Investing involves risks, including the potential loss of principal. Financial markets are volatile and can fluctuate significantly in response to company, industry, political, regulatory, market, or economic developments. The information provided does not take into account the suitability, investment objectives, financial situation, or particular needs of any specific person.
All overviews and commentary are intended to be general in nature and for current interest. While helpful, these overviews are no substitute for professional tax, investment or legal advice. Clients and prospects should seek professional advice for their particular situation. Neither Manulife Investments, nor any of its affiliates or representatives (collectively Manulife Investments” is providing tax, investment or legal advice.
Manulife Investments shall not assume any liability or responsibility for any direct or indirect loss or damage or any other consequence of any person acting or not acting in reliance on the information contained here. This material was prepared solely for informational purposes, does not constitute a recommendation, professional advice, an offer or an invitation by or on behalf of Manulife Investments to any person to buy or sell any security or adopt any investment approach, and is no indication of trading intent in any fund or account managed by Manulife Investments. No investment strategy or risk management technique can guarantee returns or eliminate risk in any market environment. Diversification or asset allocation does not guarantee a profit or protect against the risk of loss in any market. Unless otherwise specified, all data is sourced from Manulife Investments. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Series F is generally designed for investors who have a fee-based or wrap account with their dealer. Series F performance is net of fees and expenses.
The comparison presented is intended to illustrate the mutual fund’s historical performance as compared with the historical performance of widely quoted market indices or a weighted blend of widely quoted market indices. There are various important differences that may exist between the mutual fund and the stated indices, that may affect the performance of each. The objectives and strategies of the mutual fund result in holdings that do not necessarily reflect the constituents of and their weights within the comparable indices or investment fund. Indices are unmanaged and their returns do not include any sales charges or fees. It is not possible to invest directly in market indices.
© 2025 Morningstar Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Morningstar Ratings reflect performance as of July 31, 2025 and are subject to change monthly. The ratings are calculated from a fund’s 3, 5 and 10-year returns measured against 91-day Treasury bill and peer group returns. For each time period the top 10% of the funds in a category get five stars. The Overall Rating is a weighted combination of the 3, 5 and 10-year ratings. For greater detail see www.morningstar.ca.
Manulife Funds are managed by Manulife Investment Management Limited. Manulife Investments is a trade name of Manulife Investment Management Limited.
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