Timothy Malloy, co-manager of the top-ranked John Hancock Global Opportunities Fund, has been paring bets on commodity-related stocks that helped the fund beat all rivals during the past year.

Malloy cut stakes in the past two months in energy stocks such as British Energy Group Plc to 18 percent from about 29 percent a year earlier, after oil prices surged. He trimmed holdings in materials companies to 25 percent from 30 percent, and raised stakes in financial companies including Charles Schwab Corp. as they've plunged.
``We're looking to take some profits in the sectors that have done extremely well and reinvest those profits in areas that we've been avoiding for several years, like financials,'' Malloy, 38, said in an interview from his office in Boston, where he helps oversee $4.5 billion in value-oriented strategies.
The $104 million Global Opportunities advanced 20 percent in the past year through May 28, the most of 144 funds that invest in stocks all over the world, according to data compiled by Morningstar Inc. in Chicago.
The fund has Morningstar's highest rating of five stars. It has a three-year Sharpe ratio of 1.25, compared with 0.80 for competing funds, Morningstar data show. A higher Sharpe ratio means better risk-adjusted returns.
This year, the fund has advanced 5.3 percent to rank second, the data show. It has also seen the departure of co- manager Timothy Keefe, who left on April 1.
The Morgan Stanley Capital International EAFE Index of 1,195 stocks in developed countries declined 3.3 percent this year through May 28, including reinvested dividends, as shares retreated on fears of a global slowdown. During the past year, the index has fallen 1.7 percent, compared with the 6.5 percent decline in the U.S. benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Malloy and his co-managers are cutting back as energy companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index are outperforming the broader market for the ninth straight year on surging demand for oil. Crude touched a record $135.09 a barrel in New York on May 22 and traded at $131.03 a barrel on May 28 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
(Source: Bloomberg)