Tag Archives: mutual funds

Long/Short Equity Funds: The Best And Worst Of December

Long/short equity mutual funds and ETFs posted average returns of -1.23% in December, making it the third time in four months that the average fund in the category failed to post positive returns. This compares to a return of -1.58% for the S&P 500 Index and -5.02% for the Russell 2000 Index. The three top-performing long/short equity funds had monthly gains ranging from 1.74% to 2.01%, while the worst performers suffered losses of at least 5.65%. Top Long/Short Performers in December The three best-performing long/short equity funds in December were: KZSIX led all long/short equity funds in December with one-month gains of 2.01%. The $160 million fund launched on August 3, 2015, and thus did not have one- or three-year returns available, but its three-month returns through December 31 stood at +3.40%, ranking in the top 26% of the category. GURAX, with $106 million in assets and an inception date of March 2014, was December’s second-best long/short equity fund, in terms of returns, as it gained 1.88% for the month. The fund’s 3.59% gains in 2015 ranked in the top 12% of the Morningstar long/short category. Finally, SSPLX’s 1.74% gains in December ranked third among long/short equity mutual funds. The $22 million fund, which launched in October 2014, returned +0.47% in 2015, ranking in the top 31% of Morningstar’s Long/Short Equity category. Click to enlarge Worst Long/Short Performers in December The three worst-performing long/short equity mutual funds in December were: CIAXX, which returned -7.33% in December, was the category’s worst performer for the month. The $5 million fund launched on October 28, 2010, and through the end of 2015, its three-year returns stood at an annualized -4.70%, giving it a 1.43 beta (relative to the S&P 500) and -23.87% alpha for the three-year period. Its three-year Sharpe ratio stood at -0.15, with a standard deviation of 19.28, compared to respective category averages of 0.68 and 7.92. SLSAX lost 6.01% in December, making it the month’s second-worst-performing long/short equity mutual fund. The $63 million fund launched in December 2013 and returned -14.24% in 2015, ranking in the bottom 5% of the category. And the $644 million FMLSX, which lost 5.65% in December, rounded out the category’s bottom-three performers for the month. It launched way back in 2003 and generated 10-year annualized returns of +3.85% through the end of 2015. Over the past three years, however, FMLSX has lost an annualized 0.89%, ranking in the bottom 8% of its category for that time, with a beta of 0.79 and -12.03% alpha. Its three-year Sharpe ratio and standard deviation stood at -0.04 and 10.41, respectively. Past performance does not necessarily predict future results. Jason Seagraves contributed to this article.

5 Strong Buy T. Rowe Price Mutual Funds

Founded in 1937 by Thomas Rowe Price, Jr., T. Rowe Price currently manages $725.5 billion worth of assets (as of September 30, 2015). This renowned publicly owned investment management firm manages more than 100 mutual funds across a wide range of categories. Additionally, T. Rowe Price offers other financial services, including a wide variety of investment planning, guidance tools, subadvisory services and retirement plans. With over 5,000 employees and more than 5,900 associates, the company serves clients throughout the globe. Below, we share with you 5 top-rated T. Rowe Price mutual funds. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and is expected to outperform its peers in the future. To view the Zacks Rank and past performance of all T. Rowe Price mutual funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of T. Rowe Price funds. T. Rowe Price Media And Telecommunications Fund No Load (MUTF: PRMTX ) invests a major portion of its assets in securities of companies involved in operations related to media, technology and telecommunications. It primarily invests in common stocks of large- and mid-cap companies. The fund has a three-year annualized return of 15.4%. Paul D. Greene II is the fund manager of PRMTX since 2013. T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth Fund No Load (MUTF: TRBCX ) seeks capital appreciation over the long run. The fund invests the lion’s share of its assets in common stocks of growth-oriented blue chip companies. It focuses on acquiring securities of large- and mid-cap companies with strong fundamentals. The T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth Fund has a three-year annualized return of 16.3%. TRBCX has an expense ratio of 0.72%, as compared to the category average of 1.18%. T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund No Load (MUTF: PRWCX ) invests a minimum of half of its assets in stocks. The rest of its assets are expected to get invested in other securities, including convertible securities, debt securities issued by both government and corporate bodies, and bank loans. It may also invest a maximum of 25% of its assets in securities issued in foreign countries. The T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund has a three-year annualized return of 11.5%. As of September 2015, PRWCX held 265 issues, with 4.21% of its assets invested in Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. T. Rowe Price Growth and Income Fund No Load (MUTF: PRGIX ) seeks long-term growth of capital and income. It uses bottom-up analysis to invest in both growth and value stocks of companies. To select growth stocks, the fund focuses on companies that are expected to provide above-average growth. The T. Rowe Price Growth and Income Fund has a three-year annualized return of 13.4%. Jeffrey Rottinghaus has been the fund manager of PRMTX since June 1, 2015. T. Rowe Price CA Tax Free Bond Fund No Load (MUTF: PRXCX ) invests a large share of its assets in debt securities that are expected to provide interest income free from federal and California state income taxes. It seeks high tax-exempted income through prudent portfolio management. The T. Rowe Price CA Tax-Free Bond Fund has a three-year annualized return of 4.3%. PRXCX has an expense ratio of 0.49%, as compared to the category average of 0.90%. Original Post

Castlemaine Debuts 5 New Alternative Mutual Funds

Castlemaine Funds is looking to make a big splash in the liquid alts world in 2016 and beyond. Just less than three months after filing paperwork for its first quintet of alternative mutual funds , and clearly undeterred by some high profile fund closures , the firm simultaneously launched all five funds in the final week of December, just in time to ring in the New Year: New Firm, One Portfolio Manager and Five Funds Castlemaine LLC, the investment advisor to each fund, is based in New York City and was formed in 2015. The firm’s Chief Investment Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, Alfredo Viegas, is going to be a busy man. He is the sole portfolio manager for all five funds, each of which employs a different alternative investment strategy. Four of the five funds appear to be making direct investments in securities and building alternative investment portfolios, while the fifth (the Multi-Strategy Fund) invests in a collection of other funds. The Emerging Markets Opportunity Fund seeks high total returns with a secondary goal of generating investment income. Its investments include both long and short positions in equity and debt securities from issuers based in emerging-market countries or countries (such as Hong Kong and Singapore) with economies tied to emerging markets. Castlemaine’s Event Driven Fund pursues an objectives of capital appreciation by taking both long and short positions in equity securities, such as shares of stock and ETFs. The fund focuses on corporate events, such as mergers and bankruptcies, and combines its long/short equity positions with an options-trading strategy and up to 130% leverage. The Long/Short Fund also pursues an objectives of capital appreciation by taking both long and short positions in equity securities and ETFs. The fund invests in both U.S. and non-U.S. equities, and may also use up to 130% leverage, although it will generally fluctuate between 50% and 80% net-long exposure. The Castlemaine Market Neutral Fund invests in stocks, bonds, and options, with the primary and secondary objectives of total return and income generation, respectively. Its long and short positions are designed to cancel one another out on a net basis, providing “market neutral” exposure. And finally, the Castlemaine Multi-Strategy Fund operates as a “fund of funds” across a variety of alternative strategies, including those employed by both affiliated and unaffiliated funds. The fund uses Castlemaine’s “dynamic asset allocation” process in pursuit of optimal diversification and portfolio weightings that reflect prevailing market conditions. The Multi-Strategy Fund will allocate its assets to the following investment strategies: Long/Short Equity Event Driven Market Neutral Emerging Markets Long/Short Macro-Risk Parity Global Macro Unconstrained Bonds Managed Futures Convertible Arbitrage Capital Structure Arbitrage All five funds carry an investment management fee of 1.24%, and each is currently offered in a single share class. For more information, read the shared prospectus of all five funds . Jason Seagraves contributed to this article.