While some of the 30 blue chips originally in the fund have fallen by the wayside, about a third remain in something resembling their original form. Others have morphed into different holdings through acquisitions, spinoffs or other changes.
Those remaining include household names like Union Pacific Corp., UNP +1.39% DuPont Co. DD -1.74% and Procter & Gamble Co. PG +0.60% Gone are International Harvester Co. and American Can Co. F.W. Woolworth Co. became Foot Locker Inc. FL -0.38% Stakes in two oil companies, Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey and Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., became parts of Exxon Mobil Corp., XOM -1.66% the fund’s largest holding.
And a holding of Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. eventually became stock in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. BRKB +0.18% when Berkshire acquired Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. in early 2010.
The fund has trailed the market at times, such as during the 1990s tech-stock boom. It lacks exposure to pharmaceuticals, health care and social media. But over the past decade, through the end of June, it returned an average 8.3% a year, compared with 5.3% for the S&P 500 and an average of 4.7% for peers in Morningstar’s large-value category. During that decade, shares of Union Pacific and Burlington Northern both tripled in price. Praxair Inc., PX +0.28% the former industrial-gas business of Union Carbide Corp., also tripled.
