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The performance of equity unit investment trusts

George Comer (Department of Finance, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA)
Javier Rodriguez (Graduate School of Business, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA)

Managerial Finance

ISSN: 0307-4358

Article publication date: 29 March 2019

Issue publication date: 8 April 2019

329

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the risk adjusted performance of unit investment trusts (UITs). These UITs are a unique investment vehicle in that the trusts invest in a fixed portfolio of stocks for a predetermined period of time and hold limited cash positions.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a sample of 1,487 UITs from January 2004 to December 2013, the authors estimate the risk adjusted performance of the UITs. The authors use daily return data and four different returns based models to measure the alphas of the UITs.

Findings

The authors find that before fees and expenses the UITs generate significant negative alphas. The authors also find that observable trust characteristics are unable to explain the poor risk adjusted performance of the trusts.

Originality/value

Despite $85bn being invested in these unique buy and hold vehicles, the academic literature has not examined the risk adjusted performance of the trusts. The poor performance of these trusts indicates that restricting flexibility and maintaining full investment for a fixed period of time may not be beneficial to investors.

Keywords

Citation

Comer, G. and Rodriguez, J. (2019), "The performance of equity unit investment trusts", Managerial Finance, Vol. 45 No. 4, pp. 470-483. https://doi.org/10.1108/MF-02-2018-0088

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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