RBC Canadian Equity Fund $24.09

RBC CANADIAN EQUITY FUND $24.09 (CWA Rating: Conservative)(RBC Funds, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario. M5W 1P9. 1-800-463-3863; Web site: www.royalbank.com. No load — deal directly with the bank) invests mostly in larger-capitalization stocks, but also looks for opportunities in small and mid-cap stocks. The fund’s 10 largest holdings are TD Bank, Manulife Financial, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank, EnCana Corporation, Petro- Canada, CN Railway, Suncor Energy and Manulife Financial. The $4.1 billion fund is reasonably well-balanced by industry sector. But it does hold a relatively high 31.7% of its holdings in Financial stocks. These stocks will benefit as the economy continues to recover, and it’s hard to match the big-five banks’ record of consistent earnings and dividend growth. But if you hold this fund, remember to adjust your overall portfolio to reflect the addition of a large Financial services component. Over the last ten years, RBC Canadian Equity posted a 10.4% annual rate of return. That’s about equal to the S&P/TSX’s gain of 10.7%. The fund made 21.3% over the last year, compared to a gain of 22.0% for the S&P/TSX. The fund’s MER is 2.04%. RBC Canadian Equity Fund is a buy.