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| Best Franklin Templeton Funds 2012 |
There 3 types of mutual funds offered by Franklin Templeton Investments: Franklin mutual funds, Templeton mutual funds, and Mutual Series. These mutual funds series offer various different classes or categories of mutual funds. Some of the categories are government bond, money market, tax free income, growth, emerging markets stock, sector, value stock, global stock, balanced, etc. It also offers closed end funds.
Note: The list provides Class A funds which have sales load; you can try to invest in Class R or Class Z or Advisor Class for no load funds. These no load Franklin Templeton mutual funds are available through retirement account (IRA) or 401(k) account or other regular brokerages.
Best Franklin Templeton Mutual Funds
These best mutual funds are sorted based on its performance and quality. You can find various funds to invest in. These top funds are international stock mutual fund, European stock fund, municipal bond fund, utilities sector fund, moderate allocation balanced fund, etc. Please check the fund prospectus for investment risk, fund details, etc.
Top 10 Franklin Templeton Mutual Funds of 2012 are
- Franklin Rising Dividends A (FRDPX)
- Mutual European A (TEMIX)
- Mutual Global Discovery A (TEDIX)
- Franklin Total Return A (FKBAX)
- Franklin High Income A (FHAIX)
- Templeton Global Bond A (TPINX)
- Franklin Federal Tax-Free Income A (FKTIX)
- Franklin Income A (FKINX)
- Franklin Templeton Moderate Allocation A (FMTIX)
- Franklin Utilities A (FKUTX)
1. Franklin Rising Dividends A (FRDPX)
This Franklin Rising Dividends fund objective is to provide long term capital growth. This fund utilizes its assets to purchase stocks of financially sound companies that have paid rising dividends. The total assets are $7.9 billion. This popular fund also has 1.13% yield. The fund has a portfolio turnover rate of 4%.
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This large blend stock fund is ranked with 4 stars and bronze rating. It has returned 17.01% over the past 3 year and 0.70% over the past 5 year. This best stock fund opens to new investor with $1,000 initial funding. The top 3 holdings are Internationals Business Machines Corp, Chevron Corp, and Abbott Laboratories.
If you are interested in value stock fund, you might want to check Mutual Shares A (TESIX). This fund has a higher yield of 2.1%.
2. Mutual European A (TEMIX)
The investment aim of Mutual European fund is to achieve capital appreciation and to provide income. It uses its assets to buy undervalue stocks of European companies. It is managed by Philippe Brugere-Trelat and Katrina Dudley. The current dividend yield is 3.67%. The fund has an investment style of large value.
Morningstar has ranked it with 4 stars and gold rating. The annual holding turnover rate is 32.6%. The fund has a year to date return of 3.93%. The best 1 year total return was occurred in 1999 with 46.05%. The top 4 sectors are consumer cyclical, financial services, industrials and consumer defensive.
The Templeton Developing Markets A (TEDMX) can provide additional asset diversification into the emerging markets stock category. This EM stock fund performance has been lagging its peers.
3. Mutual Global Discovery A (TEDIX)
Mutual Global Discovery fund invests majority of its assets in foreign stocks and bonds. It may invest in sovereign debt, companies bonds, etc. The fund managers are Philippe Brugere-Trelat, Peter A. Langerman, and Timothy Rankin. This class A fund has a sales load of 5.75%. The annual expense ratio fee is 1.31%.
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Rated with 4 stars and silver rating, this top world stock fund has a 10-year annualized return of 8.64%. The 3 year beta risk is 0.60. As of June 2012, the top 5 industries in its portfolio are food, beverage & tobacco; energy; captal goods; pharmaceuticals, biotechnology & life sciences; and insurance. The top 5 stocks are British American Tobacco Plc, CVS Caremark Corp, Vodafone Group Plc, Merck & Company Inc, and Kraft Foods Inc.
If you like a pure play on international stock, you can pick Templeton Foreign A (TEMFX). Recent fund performance has been average though.
4. Franklin Total Return A (FKBAX)
This Franklin Total Return fund invests most of its assets in high quality bond and financial future contracts or options on U.S. Treasury. It may invest in government bonds, corporate bonds, and asset backed securities. It has a yield of 4.28%. Its fund sales load is 4.25%. The current assets are $4.7 billion. It has a high portfolio turnover rate of 255.6%.
This top bond mutual fund has returned 6.66% over the past 5 year, and 5.89% over the past decade. The average effective duration is 4.82 years. The top 5 sectors in its portfolio are U.S. Treasuries (31.35%), Mortgage-Backed Securities (23.29%), Investment Grade Corporate bonds (21.98%), international bonds (16.5%), and high yield corporate bonds (6.71%).
5. Franklin High Income A (Ticker: FHAIX)
Franklin High Income fund utilizes its assets to buy domestic and foreign high-yield, lower-rated corporate bonds. Christopher J. Molumphy and Eric G. Takaha are the fund managers. It has a distribution yield of 7.45%. The fund has $5.2 billion of total assets.
You can buy this top bond fund from 107 brokerages such as UBS Financial Services Inc, E TRADE Financial, Ameriprise, SunAmerica Securities, Firstrade, etc. The YTD return is 8.07%. As of June 2012, the top 6 industries are energy, finance, healthcare, technology, metals & mining, and non-cable media.
6. Templeton Global Bond A (TPINX)
The Templeton Global Bond fund aim is to provide capital and income growth. This fixed income fund invests mainly in government’s bonds around the world. This world bond fund is managed by Michael Hasenstab and Sonal Desai. It has a high yield of 6.17%. Its expense ratio is 0.88%.
Ranked with gold rating, this fund has its worst 1 year total return in 1999 with -4.83%. This fund has a 5-year average return of 9.07%. The currency distribution is Americas (55.14%), Asia (47.55%), Europe/Africa (-2.70%). Its average duration is 1.47 years and its average weighted maturity is 2.44 years.
7. Franklin Federal Tax-Free Income A (FKTIX)
Franklin Federal Tax-Free Income fund uses its assets to invest in investment grade municipal securities whose interest is free from federal income taxes, including the federal alternative minimum tax. The dividend yield is 4.08%. This dividend is distributed monthly.
This municipal bond fund is ranked with gold rating. It has returned 8.14% over the past 3 year, and 5.77% over the past 5 year.
If you are willing to take additional risk, you can invest in Franklin High Yield Tax-Free Income A (FRHIX). This FRHIX fund is a high yield municipal bond fund. It provides higher income than typical municipal bond fund.
8. Franklin Income A (FKINX)
As one of the best Franklin Templeton mutual funds, the Franklin Income fund invests in a diversified portfolio of debts and equities. It may invest in common stocks, convertible, floating rate, bank loan, mortgage bond, high yield, government and corporate bonds. This conservative allocation balanced fund has been managed by Charles B. Johnson (1957) and Edward D. Perks (2002). It has $64.4 billion of assets.
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This fund has YTD return of 5.81%. The top 3 holdings are Roche Holding AG, CIT Group 7%, and Merck & Co Inc. The current yield is 6.53%.
9. Franklin Templeton Moderate Allocation A (FMTIX)
Franklin Templeton Moderate Allocation fund has $2.4 billion of assets. The expense ratio is 1.17% per year. It also has a portfolio turnover rate of 19.8%. You can buy this balanced fund with $1,000 initial investment. This fund of funds invests in equities and fixed incomes.
The top 5 funds in its holdings are Franklin US Government Securities Adv, Templeton Global Bond Adv, Franklin Flex Cap Growth Adv, Franklin Rising Dividends Adv, and Franklin Growth Adv.
Another alternative for best moderate allocation mutual fund is Franklin Balanced A (FBLAX).
10. Franklin Utilities A (FKUTX)
Franklin Utilities fund utilizes its assets to purchase the securities of public utilities companies. John Kohli and Blair Schmicker are the fund managers. The total net assets are $4.4 billion. The dividend yield is 3.25%. The annual expense ratio is 0.76%.
As of June 2012, the top 4 holdings are Exelon Corp, Southern Co, Sempra Energy, and NextEra Energy Inc. This gold rated fund has a 5-year average return of 4.36%.
If you interested in a precious metals equity mutual fund, you might want to check Franklin Gold and Precious Metals A (FKRCX).
Disclosure: No Position
Fund Information
| No | Fund Description | Ticker | Expense Ratio | Yield | Rating | 5 Year Return % | 10 Year Return % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Franklin Rising Dividends A | FRDPX | 0.99% | 1.13% | 4 | 0.47% | 6.13% |
| 2 | Mutual European A | TEMIX | 1.41% | 3.67% | 4 | -3.42% | 8.19% |
| 3 | Mutual Global Discovery A | TEDIX | 1.31% | 1.59% | 4 | -0.53% | 9.03% |
| 4 | Franklin Total Return A | FKBAX | 0.88% | 4.28% | 3 | 6.74% | 5.94% |
| 5 | Franklin High Income A | FHAIX | 0.75% | 7.45% | 3 | 7.61% | 10.01% |
| 6 | Templeton Global Bond A | TPINX | 0.88% | 6.17% | 4 | 9.07% | 10.71% |
| 7 | Franklin Federal Tax-Free Income A | FKTIX | 0.62% | 4.08% | 3 | 5.85% | 5.28% |
| 8 | Franklin Income A | FKINX | 0.63% | 6.53% | 4 | 2.74% | 8.51% |
| 9 | Franklin Templeton Moderate Allocation A | FMTIX | 1.17% | 2.17% | 3 | 2.43% | 6.75% |
| 10 | Franklin Utilities A | FKUTX | 0.76% | 3.25% | 4 | 4.71% | 10.92% |
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