This fund's advantages add up over time.

Baird Intermediate Municipal Bond’s cautious approach has paid off over the long term. This strait-laced intermediate-term muni-bond fund hasn’t shone recently, with a 5.9% annualized three-year return that lands in the bottom quartile for its category through Dec. 15, 2011. However, that’s no cause for alarm, given the fund’s conservative stripes. Warren Pierson and his five comanagers, who have run the fund since its inception more than a decade ago, maintain a sterling credit-quality profile.

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