Morningstar Names Four Baird Funds to Thrilling 34 List

    MILWAUKEE, WI, January 03, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- January 3, 2020 –Employee-owned Baird announced that the Baird Core Plus Bond Fund (BCOIX) and Baird Aggregate Bond Fund (BAGIX), Baird Short-Term Bond Fund (BSBIX) and Baird MidCap Fund (BMDIX) have been selected for Morningstar's Thrilling 34 list.

Morningstar pared more than 8,000 mutual funds to find just 34 "outstanding funds accessible to individual investors" by screening on the following criteria:

1. Expense ratio in the category's cheapest quintile.
2. Manager investment of more than $1 million in the fund.
3. Morningstar Risk rating below the High level.
4. Morningstar Analyst Rating of Bronze or higher.
5. Parent rating better than average/neutral.
6. Returns above the fund's benchmark over the manager's tenure for a minimum of five years.
7. Must be a share class accessible to individual investors with a minimum investment no greater than $50,000.
8. No funds of funds.

The article noted: "The Milwaukee-based team has grown on us, leading us to upgrade the trio of bond funds to Gold. Baird Aggregate Bond (BAGIX), Baird Short-Term Bond (BSBIX), and Baird Core Plus Bond (BCOIX) lean toward the cautious side of their peer groups yet still produce solid returns."

"Baird is well represented with four funds on this highly selective list of just 34 mutual funds," said Mary Ellen Stanek, Managing Director, Chief Investment Officer of Baird Advisors and President of Baird Funds. "We are proud our clients have benefited from the low costs and consistent investment approach that have helped us achieve our place on this prestigious list."

About Baird
Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2019, Baird is an employee-owned, international wealth management, asset management, investment banking/capital markets, and private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Baird has approximately 4,500 associates serving the needs of individual, corporate, institutional and municipal clients and $285 billion in client assets as of June 30, 2019. Committed to being a great workplace, Baird ranked No. 16 on FORTUNE's 2019 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Baird is the marketing name of Baird Financial Group. Baird's principal operating subsidiaries are Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated in the United States and Robert W. Baird Group Ltd. in Europe. Baird also has an operating subsidiary in Asia supporting Baird's investment banking and private equity operations. For more information, please visit Baird's website at www.rwbaird.com.

Analyst Rating is the summary expression of Morningstar's forward-looking analysis of a fund. Morningstar analysts assign the ratings on a five-tier scale with three positive ratings of Gold, Silver, and Bronze, a Neutral rating, and a Negative rating. The Analyst Rating is based on the analyst's conviction in the fund's ability to outperform its peer group and/or relevant benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. If a fund receives a positive rating of Gold, Silver, or Bronze, it means Morningstar analysts think highly of the fund and expect it to outperform over a full market cycle of at least five years. The Analyst Rating is not a market call, and it is not meant to replace investors' due-diligence process. It cannot assess whether a fund is the right fit for a particular portfolio and risk tolerance. Morningstar evaluates funds based on five key pillars--Process, Performance, People, Parent, and Price. Analysts assign a rating of Positive, Neutral, or Negative to each pillar. Analyst Rating Scale - Gold: Best-of-breed fund that distinguishes itself across the five pillars and has garnered the analysts' highest level of conviction. Silver: Fund with advantages that outweigh the disadvantages across the five pillars and with sufficient level of analyst conviction to warrant a positive rating. Bronze: Fund with notable advantages across several, but perhaps not all, of the five pillars.

Performance data represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. The investment return and principal value of the investment will fluctuate so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance data may be lower or higher than the data quoted. To read the fund's prospectus or to obtain the fund's performance to the most recent month end, SEC 30-day yield information, any sales charges, maximum sales charges, loads, fees, total annual operating expense ratio, gross of any fee waivers or expense reimbursements as stated in the fee table contact Baird directly at 866-442-2473 or visit the fund's webpage here for BCOIX, and here for BAGIX, and here for BSBIX and here for BMDIX. Investment minimums for these institutional class funds is $25,000.

Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of each fund carefully before investing. This and other information is found in the prospectus and summary prospectus. For a prospectus or summary prospectus, contact Baird directly at 866-442-2473 or contact your Financial Advisor.

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