Top Mutual Funds of 2011 by S&P Capital IQ

On October 2011, S&P Capital IQ announced its U.S. Mutual Fund Excellence Awards Program for year 2011 (ending August 31st). This list includes USAA World Growth Fund (USAWX), Harding Loevner International Equity Portfolio Investor, Dreyfus Appreciation Fund, T. Rowe Price Retirement Income Fund, and more. More details about this list can be found in Financial Advisor Magazine.

Top S&P Mutual Funds 2011

The S&P Top Mutual Funds of 2011 are:

• U.S. Domestic Large Cap: Dreyfus Appreciation
• U.S. Domestic Mid Cap:  Vanguard Selected Value Fund
• U.S. Domestic Small Cap: Homestead Small Company Fund
• U.S. Domestic Multicap: Sequoia Fund
• International Equity: Harding Loevner International Equity Portfolio Investor
• Global Equity: USAA World Growth Fund
• Taxable Fixed Income: DWS GNMA Fund
• Balanced Individual Securities: Vanguard Balanced Index Fund Admiral Shares
• Balanced Fund of Funds: T. Rowe Price Retirement Income Fund
• New Fund: T. Rowe Price U.S. Large-Cap Core

Updated on 11/25/2011

No	Fund Description	Ticker	Yield	Morningstar Rating	Net Assets (Mil)	Expense Ratio	Min to Invest
1	Dreyfus Appreciation	DGAGX	1.16%	5	$3,600	0.99%	$2,500
2	Vanguard Selected Value Inv	VASVX	1.75%	4	$3,500	0.47%	$3,000
3	Homestead Small Company Stock	HSCSX	0.17%	5	$158	1.17%	$500
4	Sequoia Fund	SEQUX	0.24%	5	$4,100	1.00%	$5,000
5	USAA World Growth	USAWX	0.68%	4	$535	1.29%	$3,000
6	Harding Loevner International Eq Inv	HLMNX	0.19%	4	$1,100	1.25%	$5,000
7	DWS GNMA Fund	GGGGX	4.40%	3	$2,200	0.76%	$1,000
8	Vanguard Balanced Index Adm	VBIAX	2.49%	4	$10,600	0.12%	$10,000
9	T. Rowe Price Retirement Income	TRRIX	2.76%	3	$2,300	0.56%	$2,500
10	T. Rowe Price US Large-Cap Core	TRULX	1.07%	N/A	$35	1.15%	$2,500

1. Dreyfus Appreciation Fund (DGAGX)

Dreyfus Appreciation fund

This Dreyfus Appreciation fund’s objective is to provide long-term growth consistent with the capital preservation. It also tries to provide current income as its second objective. This large cap fund invest majority of assets (>80%) in blue chip companies’ stocks with $5 billion market cap. This Dreyfus fund is managed by Fayez Sarofim.

As part of Large Blend fund, it also has an annual expense ratio of 0.99%. The current dividend yield is 1.16%. This top fund is rated 5 stars rating by Morningstar. The fund has returned 0.73% over the past 5 year, and 2.70% over the past decade. You can start invest in this fund with initial investment of $2,500. Currently you can buy this fund from 112 brokerages.

As of September 2011, the top 5 stock holdings are Exxon Mobil (5.8%), Philip Morris International (5.67%), Apple (4.83%), Coca-Cola (4.63%), and Chevron (4.16%).

2. Vanguard Selected Value Fund (VASVX)

This Vanguard Selected Value Fund is part of actively managed mutual fund offered by Vanguard. This Vanguard fund invests mainly in undervalued stocks according to the fund management. This fund is managed by James P. Barrow and Mark Gene Giambrone.

The fund also pays a dividend yield of 1.60%. This dividend is distributed annually. The average annual expense ratio of the Mid-Cap Value category is 1.35% while the annual expense ratio of this VASVX fund is much lower at 0.47%.

This top S&P fund is also rated with 5 stars rating by Morningstar. It is also part of Kiplinger’s 25 best mutual funds. Based on the load adjusted return, the fund has returned 17.80% over the past year, and 6.79% over the past decade.

3. Homestead Small Company Stock Fund (HSCSX)

Homestead Small Company Stock

The investment objective of this Homestead Small Company Fund is to seek long term capital growth. The fund invest >80% of assets in common stocks of undervalued small companies which are represented in Russell 2000 Index. The fund’s manager is Stuart E Teach.

The expense ratio of this fund is 1.17% per year. It also has a yield of 0.16%. This top small blend fund has returned 21.55% over the past year and 8.85% over the past decade. The CUSIP of this fund is 437769508. It is rated 5 stars by Morningstar.

As of October 2011, the top 5 stocks in this Homestead fund are Triumph Group, Inc (4.2%), iShares Russell 2000 Value Index (3.7%), Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc (3.3%), Applied Industrial Technologies Inc (3.3%), and Dean Foods Co (3.2%).The top 3 sectors are Industrials, Consumer Staples, and Consumer Discretionary.

4. Sequoia Fund (SEQUX)

This Sequoia fund focuses mainly on undervalued growth common stocks. While the fund usually invests in U.S. companies, it also may invest in foreign stocks. It may invest in securities of issuers with any market capitalization. The fund is part non-diversified mutual fund.

This Sequoia fund has achieved consistent returns. This fund has been managed by Robert D. Goldfarb since June 1998. The current fund’s dividend yield is 0.24% per year. It has total net assets of $4.11 billion. This fund is in the Large Blend category. The annual expense ratio is 1.0%.

As of July 2011, the top 5 holdings of this fund are Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, Berkshire Hathaway Inc, TJX Companies, Fastenal Company, and Idexx Laboratories.

5. Harding Loevner International Equity Portfolio, Investor (HLMNX)

The fund’s objective of Harding Loevner International EquityPortfolio is to provide long-term capital appreciation. This fund invests in companies based in developed markets outside the U.S. and in established companies in emerging and frontier markets.

The fund’s manager of this Harding Loevner fund is Simon T. Hallett. The investor class itself (HLMNX) was introduced to public in September 2005. The expense ratio of this HLMNX fund is 1.25%. This fund is classified as Foreign Large Growth mutual fund.

This best fund is rated 4 star ratings by Morningstar. The fund has returned 14.11% over the past 1 year, and 3.48% over the past 5 year. The worst performance was occurred in 2008 with -39.40%.

6. USAA World Growth Fund (USAWX)

This USAA World Growth Fund invests most of assets in equities of both foreign and domestic companies. This USAA fund may invest in any market capitalization companies. This fund is managed by David R. Mannheim. The expense ratio of this fund is 1.29% per year.

To invest in this top world stock fund, you will need $2,500 initial balance. Morningstar has rated 4-stars for this world stock fund. It has recorded 14 years with positive return with the best achievement in year 2009 with 31.36%.

7. DWS GNMA Fund (GGGGX)

DWS GNMA fund

The DWS GNMA fund invests majority of net assets (>80%) (including leverage) in "Ginnie Maes," which are mortgage-backed securities that are issued or guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA).

This 3 star rated fund is categorized as Intermediate Government bond fund. The dividend yield is 4.27%. The annual expense ratio of this fund is 0.76%.

The YTD return of this fund is 5.70%. The 3-year beta is 0.57. The effective maturity is 7.21 years and the effective duration is 4.31 years. As of September 2011, the top 3 sectors of this mortgage bond fund are Mortgage Pass-Thru (78.99%), Mortgage CMO (11.89%), and US Treasury (5.04%).

8. Vanguard Balanced Index Fund Admiral Shares (VBIAX)

The investment objective of this Vanguard Balanced IndexFund is to track the performance of a broad, market-weighted bond index and a benchmark index that measures the investment return of the overall U.S. stock market. This fund will invest about 60% of assets in the MSCI US Broad Market Index and 40% of assets in Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index.

This moderate allocation hybrid fund is managed by Michael Perre. This fund’s dividend yield is 2.39%. The fund’s annual expense ratio is 0.12%. This fund is rated 4 stars by Morningstar. The YTD return of this fund is 1.29%.

9. T. Rowe Price Retirement Income Fund (TRRIX)

As part of fund of funds, the T. Rowe Price RetirementIncome Fund invests in a diversified portfolio of other T. Rowe Price stock and bond funds that represent various asset classes and sectors. The fund assets are allocated as follows: 40% stock funds and 60% bond funds.

The current lead manager of this fund is Jerome A. Clark. This fund has total net assets of $2.3 billion. The fund’s dividend yield is 2.76%. The annual expense ratio of this top rated fund is 0.0% (zero fee, however it has charged fee on the fund which it hold in its assets). As of October 7, 2011, this fund has annual holdings turnover of 12.50%.

10. T. Rowe Price U.S. Large-Cap Core (TRULX)

TRP US Large Cap Core

The T. Rowe Price U.S. Large-Cap Core fund’s objective is to provide long-term capital growth. The fund usually invests >80% of the net assets in the stocks of large-cap U.S. companies in the Russell 1000 Index. Jeffrey Rottinghaus is the lead manager of this T Rowe Price fund.

As the new fund, this fund doesn’t have any rating from major financial website. Last year (2010), the fund has recorded a return of 14.38%. The YTD return is -9.98%. The top 4 holdings are Apple, Exxon Mobil, Google, and International Business Machines.

Disclosure: No Position

Other related top mutual funds:

• Top 10 Best US Domestic Stock Mutual Funds 2011
• Top 10 Best Municipal Bond Mutual Funds September 2011