IntroIf you are interested in sector stock mutual funds, you can pick variety of sectors. These sector equities include communications, health care, natural resources, real estate, technology, etc. The natural resources mutual funds invest in companies that are engaged in the extractive industries or services of natural resources. Extraction is commonly defined as mining, logging, and drilling for oil and gas.
Natural resources include precious metals (gold, silver, and diamond), ferrous and nonferrous metals, strategic metals, hydrocarbons, chemicals, paper and forest products, real estate, food, textile and tobacco products, and other basic commodities.
Best Natural Resources Funds
These top natural resources sector funds are chosen based on its long term performance. You may find other fund information such as dividend yield, top stocks, fund manager, fund objective, etc.
Top 10 Natural Resources Mutual Funds of 2012 are:
- Fidelity Select Materials (FSDPX)
- Van Eck Global Hard Assets A (GHAAX)
- Franklin Natural Resources A (FRNRX)
- Prudential Jennison Natural Resources A (PGNAX)
- BlackRock Natural Resources Investor A (MDGRX)
- Fidelity Select Natural Resources (FNARX)
- Nuveen Tradewinds Global Resources A (NTGAX)
- ING Global Natural Resources A (LEXMX)
- RS Global Natural Resources A (RSNRX)
- Rydex Basic Materials Inv (RYBIX)
The investment aim of Fidelity Select Materials fund is to achieve capital appreciation. This fund utilizes its assets to buy common stocks of companies principally engaged in the manufacture, mining, processing, or distribution of raw materials and intermediate goods.
This top performer Natural Resources fund was first introduced to the public in September 1986. It has total net assets of $1.41 billion. The dividend yield is only 0.79%. Its expense ratio is 0.84%. There is no transaction fee for investing in this fund. Investors just need a minimum initial purchase of $2,500 to invest in a brokerage account. For retirement account, the minimum requirement is only $500.Its Year-To-Date return is 12.72%. This best Fidelity fund has managed to achieve 20 years of positive return and 5 years of negative return. The best 1-year total return was recorded in 2009 with 78.68%. This Fidelity fund can be purchased from 75 brokerages, such as Vanguard, JP Morgan, T Rowe Price, Schwab Retail, E Trade Financial, etc.
The top 5 stocks in its holdings as of March 2012 are Dupont De Nemours & Co, Monsanto Co New, Air Products & Chemicals Inc, Dow Chemical Co and Newmont Mining Corp. The top 10 holdings represent 47.74% of the total portfolio. It has 3-year beta of 1.62.
2. Van Eck Global Hard Assets A (Ticker: GHAAX)
The Van Eck Global Hard Assets fund invests majority of assets in securities of “hard asset” companies. It may invest in other investment companies including open end and closed end funds and exchange traded funds. Charles Cameron is the current fund manager.
Morningstar analysts rated this fund with Neutral and 4-stars rating. This domestic stock fund has an expense ratio fee of 1.37% per year. The annual turnover as of April 13, 2012 is 40% which is lower than the average in the Natural Resources category (71.11%). The 12b1 fee is 0.25% and the maximum sales charge is 5.75%.
Since its inception 18 years ago, the fund has returned in 13 years of positive return with the best achievement in 2009 (53.46%). Its 5 year annualized return is 7.27%.
The top country weighting as of March 2012 is United States (60.3%). The top holdings are Anadarko Petroleum Corp (4.4%), Schlumberger Ltd (3.8%), Halliburton Co (3.6%), Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (3.2%), Xstrata PLC (3.2%) and occidental Petroleum Corp (3.2%).
If you are interested in top financials sector mutual funds, you can check my previous article.
3. Franklin Natural Resources A (MUTF: FRNRX)
The Franklin Natural Resources fund objective is to seek high total return through investment in the equities and bonds of companies in the natural resources sector. It has total net assets of $1.28 billion. This mutual fund is currently managed by Frederick Fromm. It has annual expense ratio of 1.00%.The natural resources mutual fund has 3-stars rating from Morningstar. It has 4.74% of YTD return. Based on the load adjusted returns, this fund has returned 10.61% over the past 10-years.
The other classes of this natural resources mutual fund are Class C (FNCRX) and Advisor Class (FNRAX). The top holdings as of December 2011 are Chevron Corp (3.99%), Schlumberger Ltd (3.85%), Occidental Petroleum Corp (3.67%), Halliburton Co. (3.60%) and Anadarko Petroleum Corp (3.58%). The top portfolio breakdown is Energy (75.49%).
4. Prudential Jennison Natural Resources A (PGNAX)
The Prudential Jennison Natural Resources fund uses its assets to purchase equities of natural resource companies and asset-based securities. It may invest in U.S. or foreign companies. The management fee is 0.30% and the maximum sales charge is 5.50%. It has annual expense ratio of 1.16%. This figure is lower compared to the average in the Natural Resources category (1.46%).Morningstar rated this natural resources fund with 3-stars rating. The fund has YTD return of 5.35% and 5-year average return of 4.11%. Based on load adjusted returns, the fund has returned 18.887% over the past 3-years and 14.84% over the past 10-year. The best 1-year total return within 15 years of positive return was in 2009 with 73.17%. This fund can be purchased from 118 brokerages with a minimum initial investment of $2,500 for brokerage account.
5. BlackRock Natural Resources Investor A (Ticker: MDGRX)
The BlackRock Natural Resources fund objective is to achieve long-term growth of capital. This fund invests mainly in a portfolio consisting of companies in a variety of natural resource related sectors, such as energy, chemicals, oil, gas, paper, mining, steel or agricultural products.
Robert M. Shearer has started managing this Blackrock fund in 1997. He is the Managing Director of BlackRock. It has total net assets of $565.38 million and dividend yield of 0.28%. The annual portfolio turnover as of April 23, 2012 is 2.00%. This is much lower compared to the average in the category (71.11%). The annual expense ratio is 1.06%. This natural resources fund has YTD return of 4.66%.
As of March 2012, the top 5 stocks in its assets are Exxon Mobil (5.8%), Anadarko Petroleum (5.7%), Chevron Corp (5.6%), Schlumberger (4.8%) and National Oilwell Varco (3.8%). The benchmark of this fund is MSCI World Energy Net. The top 2 regions are North America (73.3%) and Europe (23.4%).
6. Fidelity Select Natural Resources (FNARX)The Fidelity Select Natural Resources fund invests majority of assets in stocks of companies engaged in owning or developing natural resources, or supplying goods and services, and in precious metals. It may invest in foreign stocks. Its total net assets are $1.32 billion. The YTD return is 6.49%. The fund was first introduced to public in March 1997.
This best natural resources fund receives 3-stars rating from Morningstar. Since its inception, it has 9 years of positive return and 5 years of negative return. The best 1-year total return was in 2009 with 51.74%. The 5 year annualized return is 6.42%.
As of March 2012, the top holdings are Chevron Corp, Occidental Petroleum Corp, Marthon Oil Corp, National Oilwell Varco Inc and Hess Group. The top 10 holdings represent 44.35%. The major market sectors are Energy (81.96%) and Materials (17.12%).
7. Nuveen Tradewinds Global Resources A (NTGAX)
The Nuveen Tradewinds Global Resources fund has a yield of 0.60%. The front end sales load is 5.75%. It has $81 million of total assets. Rated with 2 stars, the annual expense ratio fee is 1.48%. The portfolio turnover rate is 38%. It may close to new investors.
This sector equity has returned 27.44% over the past 3 year, and 5.80% over the past 5 year.
8. ING Global Natural Resources A (LEXMX)
The ING Global Natural Resources fund is a load mutual fund. The expense ratio is 1.46% per year. Its annual holding turnover rate is 73%. It is ranked with 2 stars rating. The dividend yield is 0.14%. The minimum initial investment is $1,000.
As of April 2012, the top 2 sectors of this best fund are energy (78.64%) and basic materials (21.36%). The top 5 stocks are Exxon Mobil Corporation, Chevron Corp, National Oilwell Varco Inc, Halliburton Company, and Schlumberger NV.
9. RS Global Natural Resources A (RSNRX)
The RS Global Natural Resources fund objective is to provide long-term capital appreciation. The fund managers are Andrew J. Pilara Jr., Mackenzie B. Davis, and Kenneth L. Settles Jr. The expense ratio is 1.45%. Its holding turnover rate is 25%. The total net assets are $3.5 billion.
This best mutual fund is ranked with 5 stars rating. This fund has returned 28.72% over the past 3 year, 5.04% over the past 5 year, and 15.78% over the past decade. The investment style of this mutual fund is large growth.
10. Rydex Basic Materials Inv (RYBIX)
The Rydex Basic Materials fund has no sales load. The portfolio turnover rate is 292%. Its expense ratio is 1.39%. The top 3 stocks are E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Monsanto Company, and Dow Chemical Co.
Disclosure: No Position
Fund Information
| No | Name | Ticker | 1 Year Return % | 3 Year Return % | 5 Year Return % | 10 Year Return % | Expense Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fidelity Select Materials | FSDPX | 0.49% | 37.77% | 8.39% | 13.47% | 0.88% |
| 2 | Van Eck Global Hard Assets A | GHAAX | -11.29% | 24.84% | 7.27% | 16.41% | 1.39% |
| 3 | Franklin Natural Resources A | FRNRX | -10.22% | 30.37% | 7.05% | 12.89% | 1.01% |
| 4 | Prudential Jennison Natural Resources A | PGNAX | -13.21% | 28.90% | 6.78% | 17.43% | 1.18% |
| 5 | BlackRock Natural Resources Inv A | MDGRX | -8.12% | 25.44% | 6.42% | 14.00% | 1.09% |
| 6 | Fidelity Select Natural Resources | FNARX | -8.63% | 27.90% | 5.81% | 12.68% | 0.88% |
| 7 | Nuveen Tradewinds Global Resources A | NTGAX | -16.03% | 27.44% | 5.80% | - | 1.48% |
| 8 | ING Global Natural Resources A | LEXMX | -10.63% | 23.72% | 5.09% | 14.00% | 1.46% |
| 9 | RS Global Natural Resources A | RSNRX | -5.35% | 28.72% | 5.04% | 15.78% | 1.45% |
| 10 | Rydex Basic Materials Inv | RYBIX | -8.48% | 28.03% | 4.85% | 8.58% | 1.39% |
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