Investors sought havens in companies such as Biogen, the world's largest producer of multiple sclerosis medicines. The Weston, Massachusetts-based drugmaker's return adjusted for risk was 17 times the S&P 500's in 2011, as success with experimental drugs shielded its shares. Biogen surged 65 percent this year, the fifth-biggest gain in the benchmark equity index.
Hershey's return taking price swings into account was 15 times the S&P 500's, as cocoa prices posted the longest string of losses in five decades earlier this month. The risk-adjusted return for Richmond, Virginia-based Altria Group Inc., the largest tobacco seller in the U.S., was 15 times the S&P 500's.
Utility Investments
Valentijn van Nieuwenhuijzen, who helps oversee $163 billion as head of tactical asset allocation at ING Investment Management in The Hague, has reduced investments in utilities and holds more shares in energy and technology companies than are represented in indexes. He is keeping a "neutral" balance between both groups, he said.
"The relative valuation between sectors has moved more extreme," van Nieuwenhuijzen said in a Dec. 20 telephone interview. "We see big support from valuation both on equities themselves and for cyclical sectors."