Meridian Growth Fund (MERDX)

One of the most well known funds in Kiplinger 25 Best Mutual Funds list is Meridian Growth fund. This fund is not only because it has the highest Morningstar rating (5 stars), it also gets variety of recognition from financial magazines such as Money Magazine, Barron’s, Morningstar, Kiplinger, MarketScope, and Investor’s Business Daily. The following is the details about this best fund.

Meridian Growth (Ticker: MERDX)

As part of Mid Cap fund class, the Meridian Growth fund is seeking for capital growth in long-term. The fund invests its net assets in a diversified portfolio of U.S. Companies’ common stocks that are traded publicly. It invests in securities of companies with any capitalization across a broad range of industries including companies that have small total assets, earnings or revenues. Besides that, MERDX may invest up to a quarter (<25%) of its net assets in foreign companies’ securities, include emerging market companies.

MERDX Fund Details

Meridian Growth Fund

• Fund Inception Date: August 1984
• Ticker Symbol: MERDX
• CUSIP: 589619105
• Beta (3yr): 0.96
• Rank in category: 85
• Category: Mid-Cap Growth
• Distribution: 0.14%
• Capital Gains: 1.09% (last distributed in 2008)
• Number of Years Up: 23 years
• Number of Years Down: 3 years

updated on 06/01/2011

T Rowe Price Small Cap Value Fund (PRSVX)

T. Rowe Price Small Cap Value fund (Ticker: PRSVX) is one of best domestic stock mutual funds. It invests in small companies.

T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Value (Ticker: PRSVX)

T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Value fund objective is seeking for capital growth in long-term. The majority of the net-assets investment (at least 80%) is in companies with market capitalization within or below the range of companies in the Russell 2000 Index. Besides in U.S. common stocks, this PRSVX may also invest in other securities including foreign stocks, options, futures and bonds.

T Rowe Price Small Cap Value details

PRSVX Fund Details

• Fund Inception Date: June 1988
• Ticker Symbol: PRSVX
• CUSIP: 77957Q103
• Beta (3yr): 1.10
• Rank in category: 77
• Category: Small Blend
• Distribution: 0.66%
• Capital Gains: If there is any capital gain, it will be paid annually on December. Last capital gain was paid on December 2010.
• Number of Years Up: 16 years
• Number of Years Down: 6 years

updated on May 2017

Vanguard Selected Value Fund (VASVX)

Vanguard Selected Value Fund (VASVX), best U.S. stock mutual fund. Value investing is extremely popular among long term investors.

Many different studies have shown over the long term period, the value investing style will beat other investing styles like growth investing. The next fund best 25 Kip fund will be another Vanguard fund. This Vanguard Selected Value fund invests primarily in undervalued companies especially mid cap value stocks. A company is considered a mid cap, if the company has a market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion.

Vanguard Selected Value (Ticker: VASVX)

The investment in Vanguard Selected Value is looking for capital growth and income growth in long-term. It invests primarily in medium-size U.S. companies’ stocks. The consideration of the stocks selected are the undervalued stocks that are out of favor with investors and are trading at below average price related to earnings and book value.

VASVX Fund Details

• Fund Inception Date: February 1996
• Ticker Symbol: VASVX
• CUSIP: 921946109
• Beta (3yr): 1.03
• Rank in category: 48
• Asset Class: Domestic Stock
• Category: Mid-Cap Value
• Expense Ratio: 0.35%
• Distribution / Yield: 1.60%
• Capital Gains: If there is a capital gain, it will be paid on December
• Fiscal Year End: October
• Number of Years Up: 9 years
• Number of Years Down: 5 years

updated on May 2017

James P. Barrow has managed this Vanguard fund since March 1999. He is the principal and founding partner of Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss llc. As the primary investment advisor, Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss llc is managing 73% of fund assets. Some of the fund assets (about 24%) are also managed by other investment advisor Donald Smith & Co Inc (portfolio manager: Donald G Smith).

The fund has 0.47% yearly expense ratio while the average in the category is 1.36%. The fund is available in both brokerage and IRA account with the minimum initial investment of $25,000 and $100 of the minimum subsequent investment. There is neither 12b1 fee nor sales load fee applied. There are 76 brokerages in which this fund can be purchased include T. Rowe Price, Commonwealth, TD Ameritrade, etc.

The performance of the fund is 18.46% over the past one year, 5.36% over the past five years and 8.91% over the past ten years. The last dividend distributed in 2007 was 1.55%. VASVX fund has 4-star return rating from Morningstar. It has 6.82% of year-to-date return with a total of 9 years of positive return and 5 years of negative return. The best total return in 1-year was achieved in 2009 with 36.26%. The worst 1-year total return was experienced in 2008 with -35.49%. The fund also has a redemption fee of 1% if the fund is held less than 1 year.

• Year 2017: 5.73% (YTD)
• Year 2016: 16.34%
• Year 2015: -3.80%
• Year 2014: 6.36%
• Year 2013: 42.04%

The top 10 largest holdings has 21.8% of total net assets as of March 31, 2011 are Stanley Black & Decker Inc., Coventry Health Care Inc., Capital One Financial Corp, Discover Financial Services, Yamana Gold Inc., Willis Group Holdings plc, Murphy Oil Corp, Goodrich Corp, Seadrill Ltd and Micron Technology Inc. The top 3 equity sector diversifications as of December 31, 2010 are Financials (29.40%), Energy (11.30%) and Consumer Discretionary (10.90%). There are 64 different stocks in this fund asset. About 5.9% of fund asset is invested in foreign stocks holdings.

What is the risk you might ask?

Investing in any stock funds always involves investment risks like

• Stock market risk: price will rise and decline depending upon market condition.
• Value investment style risk: Since the fund invests in value mid cap companies, these companies may be more volatile than value large cap companies.
• Manager risk: Poor selection by fund advisor due to particular sector, category, group. This may cause the fund to underperform the fund index or other benchmark.
• Asset concentration risk: Since this fund may be less diversified, the fund may be volatile at the times.

Disclosure: No Position

Update from latest filing (11/30/2011):

The performance of this VASVX fund, based on the load adjusted return, is 17.80% over the past year, 4.91% over the past 3-years and 6.79% over the past 10-years. It has 5-stars rating from Morningstar. Since its inception, this fund has recorded 9 years of positive return (best in year 2009 with 36.26%) nad 5 years of negative return. The YTD-return is -2.99%.

As of September 30, 2011, the top 10 holdings of this Vanguard fund are Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, Constellation Energy Group Inc, Yamana Gold Inc, Discover Financial Services, Coventry Health Care Inc, Goodrich Corp, International Game Technology, Wills Group Holdings PLC, CenterPoint Energy Inc and Capital One Financial Corp. These top 10 companies represent 24.0% of the total net assets. The top sector holdings (stocks) are Financials (26.9%), Industrials (15.0%), Utilities (12.7%) and Consumer Discretionary (12.3%).

Note: This Vanguard Selected Value Fund (VASVX) was part of Kiplinger's 25 best mutual funds before.

If you are interested in other Kip 25 Best fund, please check my previous articles. If you need the Top 25 list, you can check my main page for details of these Kiplinger 25 best mutual funds.

Harbor International Fund (HIINX)

Investing internationally is very popular nowadays. International stock funds usually investing in foreign companies outside the US. These companies may be located around the world like Europe (UK, France, Germany, Italy, etc), Japan, Australia, Emerging Markets (Brazil, China, Russia, India, Indonesia, etc), Korea, Singapore, and so forth. The world economy itself is around 45% US and 55% non US.

This international equity funds can be part of any investor’s portfolio either for long term or short term. The following article will discuss about one of the top international stock funds in Kiplinger 25 Best Mutual fund, Harbor International Investor Fund. As one of the best fund, this fund is also highly rated by Morningstar. This fund has provided a consistent above average performance for its investor. Details can be found below. If you are interested in other best mutual funds, please check my main page for details.

Harbor International Investor Fund (Ticker: HIINX)

The investment in Harbor International Fund is seeking for total return in long term period of time from the capital growth. The primary net assets investment of this fund is in common and preferred stocks of foreign companies. With the total of minimum 65% of the net assets, the investment focuses in foreign companies with market capitalization above $1 billion.

This fund invests in at least 10 countries throughout the world, including emerging market countries. The main consideration of countries selection is the stability in economics and political regimes.

HIINX Fund Facts

• Fund Inception Date: November 2002
• Ticker Symbol: HIINX (Investor Class)
• CUSIP: 411511645
• Beta (3yr): 1.09
• Rank in Category: 5 (ytd)
• Category: Foreign Large Blend
• Type: Stock fund
• Numbers of Years Up: 7
• Numbers of Years Down: 1

As updated on 4/30/2011
This HIINX fund has returned 15.39% over the past one year and 10.31% over the past decade. The 5-year average return is around 5.34%. The best 1-year return was in December 2003 (40.34%) and the worst experience was in 2008 (-42.86%). This fund has 4-star rating from morning star and has an average of 4.00% of year-to-date return. The average annual total returns since inception is 14.06%. The return on equity rate is 12.28%, a bit higher compared to the MSCI EAFE (ND) Index (11.06%).

Edward E. Wendell, Jr, Norther Cross llc advisor, is the lead manager for this Harbor International Fund. The minimum balance to invest in this fund is $2,500 for brokerage account and $1,000 for IRA account. There is no minimum subsequent investment needed. The annual expense ratio of this fund is 1.16%. Should you interest in investing in this fund, please keep in mind that there is a 0.25% of 12b1 fee, but there is no sales load. The other class tickers of this fund are HAINX (Institutional Class) and HRINX (Admin Class).

You can purchase HIINX from 100 brokerages including Schwab Institutional, Td Ameritrade, T. Rowe Price, Merrill Lynch, etc.

As of March 31, 2011, this HIINX fund has 71 holdings. The top 10 holdings are Atlas Copco, Novo Nordisc AS, Linde AG, British American Tobacco, Compagnie Financiere Richemont, Petroleo Brasileiro, Xstrata, Banco Bradesco, Schneider Electric and Fanuc Corporation. The annual holdings turnover as of Oct 2010 is 14.00% with the average in the category of 69.26%. The top 3 economic sectors for this fund are Financials (24.5%), Industrials (15.2%) and Consumer Staples (14.3%). The top 5 country allocations for this fund are France, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden, and Brazil.

Investing Risk

Investing in this fund involves investment risks such as:

• Market risk: Depending upon the overall stock market, the company stocks may decline in value due to unfavorable earning report and other adverse event
• Value style risk: Value oriented investing style may underperform other equity funds
• Selection risk: Advisor and subadvisor’s judgment could be incorrect about value and potential growth of specific stocks
• Foreign securities risk: Political, economy, foreign government can influence the market direction
• Emerging market risk: more volatile from other stocks. High risk may translate into high reward

Central Fund of Canada (CEF)

Investing in commodities stock can be very volatile. The other alternative is investing in closed end fund or exchange traded fund or mutual fund. This article will focus on top performer gold closed end fund, Central Fund of Canada fund (Ticker: CEF).

Central Fund of Canada fund objective is to provide in alternative investment vehicle to investors interested in exposure to commodities through holding in gold bullion and silver bullion. The fund investment policy required the fund to maintain a minimum of 90% of its net assets in gold and silver bullion of which at least 85% must be in physical form.

Central Fund of Canada Fund Fact

• Category: US Equity-Commodities
• Fund Sponsor: Central Group Alberta Ltd

• Portfolio Managers: J C Stefan Spicer (14 Sep 1983)
• Ticker: CEF 
• NAV Ticker: XXCEFXX 
• Average Daily Volume (shares): 1,323,000 
• Average Daily Volume (USD): $24.449M
• Inception Date: 9/14/1983
• Inception Share Price: $10.55
• Inception NAV: $9.98
• Fiscal Year End: October 31

This fund has one of the largest total net assets with $5.7billion as April 27th 2011. It only charges a small annual expense ratio of 0.34%. There is no interest expense in the net expense ratio. The fund sponsor is Central Group Alberta Ltd. The fund manager is J C Stefan Spicer since 1983. The fund paid an annual distribution of 0.04%. The latest distribution is paid on November 12, 2010 in the amount of $0.0085 per share.

As April 26th 2011, the Top 4 sectors are Gold Bullion (51.85%), Silver Bullion (46.12%), Net current Asset (2%), and short term debt (0.01%). As April 26th 2011, the fund market price ($23.77) is currently traded at 1.12% discounts from the fund’s Net Asset Value (NAV: $24.04).

Several advantages in investing in this fund:

• It is easy. Hence this CEF is traded like stock on the open market, anyone can trade this closed end fund (CEF)
• No bullion contract, logistic, storage fee, insurance for share owners
• No fee to trade this CEF except your brokerage fee
• All the gold and silver bullion is stored in treasury vaults at Canadian chartered bank
• It is available to anyone in North America

Investing in this fund may involve some risks such as

• Investment and market risk
• Credit risk
• Non diversification risk
• Commodities price risk

Disclosure: No Position

FPA Crescent Fund (FPACX)

Find FPA Crescent Fund (FPACX) review. This mutual fund is one of the best moderate allocation balanced mutual funds.

If you want to have a set and forget it fund, you should select a balanced fund. Balanced funds, also known as diversified funds, are very popular among long- and short-term investors. These funds are also known as hybrid funds and are useful for asset diversification.  The fund can invest in any assets such as fixed income or bonds and stocks or equities. The next fund will be a 5 stars fund by First Pacific Advisors, FPA Crescent. The asset allocation can differ from one fund to the other funds.

FPA Crescent (FPACX)

FPA Crescent investment is seeking to provide a total return by combining income and capital appreciation with reasonable investment risk. The major investment is in equity, debt securities as well as cash and cash equivalents. Half of the net assets are invested in foreign securities, and the other half in debt securities. This fund may invest in debt securities issued by corporations and the US government as well as its agencies, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, municipal notes and bonds, commercial paper and certificates of deposit.

FPACX Profile

• Fund Inception Date: June 1993
• Ticker Symbol: FPACX
• CUSIP: 30254T759
• Beta (3yr):  0.89
• Rank in Category: 18 (ytd)
• Category: Moderate Allocation
• Type: Balanced Fund
• Distribution / Yield: 0.82%
• Capital Gains: N/A
• Numbers of Years Up: 15

T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Stock Fund (PRMSX)

T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Stock Fund (PRMSX) is a top equity mutual fund. This investment fund invests in emerging markets.

Investing in emerging markets equity funds has become more popular nowadays. The performance of this asset class has been astounding. For the past decade, this emerging market has been the leader 6 out of 10 times in term of performance return. More details about this performance can be found in the latest Callan Periodic Table of Investment Returns of 2010. The largest investment return occurred in 2009 for 79.02%.

The following article will provide one of the most consistent emerging market stock funds, T Rowe Price Emerging Markets Stock fund.

T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Stock (PRMSX)

Investment in T. Rowe Price Emerging Stock fund is looking for capital growth in long-term period. The majority of the net assets (at least 80%) are invested in emerging markets in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. This fund mainly invests in common stocks. It may as well purchase the stocks of companies in any size. The assets allocation as per December 31, 2010 is 94.4% in foreign stocks, 4.2% in preferred stocks and 1.4% in cash.

PRMSX Fund Details

• Fund Inception Date: March 1995
• Ticker Symbol: PRMSX
• CUSIP: 77956H864
• Beta: 1.12
• Rank in Category: 31 (ytd)
• Category: Diversified Emerging Markets
• Distribution / Yield: 0.43%