Excess Cash and Mutual Fund Performance

Abstract:     
Cash holdings of equity mutual funds impose a drag on fund performance but also allow managers to make quick investments in attractive stocks and satisfy outflows without costly fire sales. This paper shows that actively managed equity funds with high excess cash -- that is, with cash holdings in excess of the level predicted by fund attributes -- outperform their low excess cash peers by over 2% per year. Managers carrying high excess cash compensate for the low return on cash by making superior stock selection decisions, whereas less capable managers find excess cash costly and remain more fully invested in equities. Managers of high excess cash funds also proficiently satisfy fund outflows and control fund transaction costs, while low excess cash funds lack flexibility to cover outflows and can suffer from costly fire sales. The empirical evidence suggests that managers carrying excess cash benefit from the flexibility it provides despite the costs of holding cash.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 53

Keywords: Mutual fund, cash holdings, fund liquidity, fire sales, stock selection skills

JEL Classification: G12

working papers series