The high-dividend sector surged in July, with the CSI Dividend Index soaring over 10% in a single month, yet the CCB Principal High Dividend Theme Stock Fund bucked the trend with a decline. Established on January 21, 2020, the fund had a size of 459 million yuan by the end of June. Despite its name as a high-dividend theme stock fund, its heavy allocation to popular tech stocks led to significant yield retracement amid market sector corrections. In the third quarter of 2025, the fund began positioning in the tech sector. By the fourth quarter, it shifted to chasing non-ferrous metals. In the second quarter of 2026, the heavily held non-ferrous metal stocks vanished from the top ten holdings, with tech stocks once again becoming the core portfolio.

The fund managed by CCB Principal Asset Management is overseen by Tao Can, who is known for this "style drift." Chasing AI and betting on non-ferrous metals, the high-dividend fund's trend-following has been relentless. In the second quarter of this year, the fund's top ten holdings included Zhongji Innolight as the largest position at 9.24%, followed by Eoptolink Technology at 5.59%, and Hengtong Optic-Electric at 5.07%. Other holdings such as Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment, Far East Smarter Energy, Bright Power Semiconductor, Uli Semiconductor, Lianxun Instruments, and Lianrui New Materials totaled a 47.05% share. Since July, tech stock corrections have caused the fund's returns to plummet. As of August 7, the fund's one-month return was -9.65%, the three-month return was -15.08%, the one-year return was 19.55%, and since inception, it has returned 91.89%.

This style drift is not an isolated incident. In the second quarter of 2025, the fund's top ten holdings included 3SBio, Grandblue Environment, China Merchants Bank, Yangtze Power, Tencent Holdings, and Midea Group. By the third quarter, the fund's portfolio shifted dramatically, with the manager adding tech stocks like Innovent Biologics, Eoptolink Technology, Grandblue Environment, Zhongjin Gold, Zhongji Innolight, YTO Express, and Sungrow Power Supply to the top ten. This contrasted sharply with the previous quarter's focus on dividend-paying stocks like banks and hydropower, indicating a clear deviation in style. By the fourth quarter of 2025, the fund turned to non-ferrous metals, with top holdings including Yunnan Aluminum, Zhongji Innolight, and Sinomine Resource Group, alongside Eoptolink Technology, Tianshan Aluminum, Xiamen Tungsten, and Zangge Mining. In the second quarter of 2026, these non-ferrous metal stocks disappeared from the top ten, and tech stocks returned to the core.

Tao Can, who joined CCB Principal Asset Management after graduating from Peking University in 2007 and holds a master's degree from the Guanghua School of Management, serves as the Executive General Manager of the Equity Investment Department. In the fund's semi-annual report, he noted that sectors like electronics and communications, which are related to AI, saw gains of over 60%, while consumer services, agriculture, food and beverage, and media declined by more than 15%. The fund maintained stable allocations in the high-dividend sector, particularly in public utilities, but reduced its exposure to non-ferrous metals, citing strong dollar and high interest rates as factors suppressing resource stocks. Tao Can manages four funds, including the CCB Principal Reform Dividend Stock Fund, CCB Principal New Energy Industry Stock Fund, CCB Principal Xingrun One-Year Holding Mixed Fund, and the CCB Principal High Dividend Theme Stock Fund, with a total asset scale of 5.129 billion yuan and a best tenure return of 509.20%. Stocks from the AI supply chain, such as Zhongji Innolight, Eoptolink Technology, Haiguang Information Technology, Uli Semiconductor, and Dongshan Precision Manufacturing, frequently appear across these funds' top ten holdings.

What is the boundary of a fund's theme? New regulations now strictly prohibit "style drift." Wu Zewei, a special researcher at Sushang Bank, explained that the frequent deviation of theme funds from their contractual investment styles is a result of industry assessment mechanisms, product contract loopholes, and market rotation. The public fund industry has long prioritized short-term performance rankings. When contractually defined dividend sectors underperform, fund managers may pivot to popular growth sectors to boost net asset value, preventing asset shrinkage and management fee declines. Wu noted that earlier fund contracts had vague definitions of theme boundaries, lacking quantitative position constraints, and only quarterly disclosures revealed deviations, leaving ample room for cross-sector adjustments. This, combined with some investors' pursuit of short-term gains, indirectly encouraged managers to break their investment frameworks, leading to a mismatch between product names and actual holdings. To address this, the Asset Management Association of China drafted the Guidelines for the Management of Publicly Offered Securities Investment Fund Theme Investment Styles, effective December 1, 2026, which explicitly states that a theme fund's name must align with its contractual investment direction, avoiding inconsistencies. These guidelines require that at least 80% of non-cash fund assets be invested in a specific direction, excluding publicly offered REITs and index funds.

Wang Zhaojiang, head of the Beishan Changcheng Fund Research Institute, believes the new regulations mark a shift from "principle-based restrictions" to "institutional governance." This "package" of measures will significantly compress the space for style drift. Investment scope definitions must be clear and quantifiable, closing the "back door" for drift based on vague clauses. Wu Zewei advises ordinary investors to establish a three-tier verification system when selecting dividend theme funds: first, check historical holdings to confirm a long-term focus on value blue chips and high-dividend public utilities, avoiding tech or growth drift, with passive index products being more compliant; second, examine underlying assets, preferring portfolios with consistent dividends, reasonable dividend yields, and diversified sectors, while being wary of artificially high yields; third, set a long-term strategy, using dividend reinvestment to leverage compounding effects for navigating market volatility.