Morningstar’s research team “has now seen evidence of his ability to cope with the considerable increase in assets under his management”.
This is since he took on management of the £6.4bn Income and £12.4bn High Income funds from Neil Woodford in March last year, which have since had a Neutral rating.
Morningstar also initiated coverage of the £1.1bn UK Strategic Income fund, which Barnett has managed since 2006.
The change comes amid press coverage of CF Woodford Equity Income fund’s leapfrog over Invesco Perpetual Income in assets to £6.7bn as at the end of July.
Morningstar singled out Barnett as broadly sharing the same investment philosophy as his predecessor.
“He mixes a high-level macro overview with bottom-up stock-picking, has a long term focus and a contrarian style,” its ratings team said.
“Morningstar has a positive view of Barnett, bolstered by his strong track managing similar mandates such as Invesco Perpetual UK Strategic Income and the Perpetual Growth and Income investment trust.”
