Calamos Growth & Income A (CVTRX) Fund

The following article is about Calamos Growth & Income A Fund. As part of best aggressive allocation balanced mutual fund, I’ll provide details about the fund’s review and details including fund’s yield, top holding, sales load and more.

Balanced mutual fund is also known as hybrid fund. This fund usually has assets in bonds and stocks. The portfolio diversification will depend on the fund’s objective. There are 5 types of balanced mutual funds such as Aggressive Allocation, Moderate Allocation, Conservative Allocation, World Allocation, and Retirement Income.

Calamos Growth & Income A (Ticker: CVTRX)

The Calamos Growth & Income fund seeks high long-term total return including capital appreciation and current income. This Calamos fund invests mostly in a diversified portfolio of convertible, equity and fixed-income securities of U.S. companies without regard to market capitalization. The average term to maturity of the convertible and fixed-income securities purchased by the Fund will typically range from two to ten years.

Fund Details

Calamos Growth and Income A

• Fund Inception Date: September 22, 1988
• Ticker Symbol: CVTRX
• CUSIP: 128119104
• Beta (3yr): 1.21
• Rank in category (YTD): 4
• Category: Aggressive Allocation
• Distribution Rate: 1.56%
• Net Assets: $ 4.35 billion
• Sales Load: 4.75%
• Expense Ratio: 1.09%
• Capital Gains:  N/A
• Number of Years Up: 17 years
• Number of Years Down: 5 years

Updated on 10/16/2011

Top Performer Closed End Funds of Week 41, 2011

The following is the top performer CEFs for week 41 of 2011. The top performing funds include Alpine Global Premier Properties, Foxby Corporation, ING International High Dividend Equity Income and more.

These past 2 weeks have been great for investor. The market provided double digit returns. Closed End Funds were among the top performing funds. The following funds have returned 10% or higher for the past week. Majority of these outperformers are global equity funds, growth funds, real estate sector funds, etc.

The 12 Top Performer Closed End Funds CEFs 2011 (Week 41) are:

1. Alpine Global Premier Properties (AWP)
2. Foxby Corp (FXBY)
3. Equus Total Return (EQS)
4. RENN Global Entrepreneurs (RCG)
5. ING International High Dividend Equity Income (IID)
6. Avenue Income Credit Strategies (ACP)
7. JF China Region Fund (JFC)
8. Templeton Russia & East European (TRF)
9. DCA Total Return Fund (DCA)
10. Lazard World Dividend & Income (LOR)
11. Gabelli Global Utility & Income (GLU)
12. Aberdeen Australia Equity (IAF)

Note: Week 41 = October 10, 2011 till October 16, 2011

Prudential Municipal High-Income A (PRHAX) Fund

Muni bond fund is another popular investment fund among investor especially a high income earner and retiree. One of the best feature of this fund is it provides regular income exempt from federal tax rate to investor. One of this best muni bond funds review is Prudential Municipal High-Income fund. Details review is described below.

Prudential Municipal High-Income A (Ticker: PRHAX)

The Prudential Municipal High-Income fund’s objective is to achieve the maximum amount of income that is not subjected to federal income taxes. This Prudential fund invests >80% of its investable assets in municipal bonds, which are fixed-income securities issued by states and municipalities. The income provided by this fund is free from regular federal income tax. The investments may include certain municipal bonds of which the interest is subject to the federal alternative minimum tax (AMT). The fund's management normally invests in municipal bonds that it believes may provide above-average yields.

PRHAX Fund Details

Prudential Municipal High Income

• Fund Inception Date: January 22, 1990
• Ticker Symbol: PRHAX (Class A)
• CUSIP: 74440M104
• Beta (3yr): 1.20
• Rank in category (YTD): 53
• Category: High Yield Muni
• Distribution Rate: 5.24%
• Net Assets: $ 568.77 million
• Sales Load: 4.0%
• Expense Ratio: 0.87%
• Capital Gains: N/A
• Number of Years Up: 16 years
• Number of Years Down: 4 years
• Average Maturity: 12.2 years
• Average Duration: 7.9 years

updated on 9/29/2011

ING Corporate Leaders Trust Series B (LEXCX) Fund

US Stock funds should be your main pillar in your investment portfolio. There is variety of US stock fund such as large growth, large value, large blend, small value, mid blend, etc. Investor need to focus on large cap fund for their main portfolio. One of this best US Stock fund is ING Corporate Leaders Trust Series B. Details about the fund review is described below.

ING Corporate Leaders Trust Series B (LEXCX)

The ING Corporate Leaders Trust fund seeks long-term capital growth and income. This ING fund mostly invests in an equal number of shares of common stock of a fixed list of American blue chip corporations. Currently the Trust is invested in 21 of such corporations.

Fund Details

ING Corporate Leaders Trust

• Fund Inception Date: November 18, 1935
• Ticker Symbol: LEXCX
• CUSIP: 44978J104
• Beta (3yr): 0.88
• Rank in category (YTD): 1
• Category: Large Value
• Distribution Rate: 1.58%
• Net Assets: $ 571.68 million
• Sales Load: 0.0%
• Expense Ratio: 0.54%
• Capital Gains: N/A
• Number of Years Up: 38 years
• Number of Years Down: 13 years

Updated on 10/1/2011

Bernstein Emerging Markets Fund (SNEMX)

Emerging Markets countries has been the main global economic growth for the past 10 years. After the economic crisis, these emerging markets countries have been outperformed many developed countries. You can invest in this emerging markets stocks using mutual funds. The following is the fund review of best emerging markets stock fund.

Bernstein Emerging Markets (Ticker: SNEMX)

Bernstein Emerging Markets

The Bernstein Emerging Markets fund objective is to provide long-term capital growth. The fund normally invests at least 80% of assets in securities of companies in emerging markets. It invests approximately 50% of assets in emerging markets value stocks and 50% of assets in emerging markets growth stocks. This EM stock fund may invest in more developed country markets.

This AllianceBernstein fund is managed by Seth Masters since its inception in December 1995. This is a no load fund, it means there is no 12b1 fee as well no sales load fee (either front-end sales load or deferred sales load). It has an annual holdings turnover of 67% as of July 2011. This fund has total net assets of $1.79 billion.

Rydex / SGI Mid Cap Value A (SEVAX) Fund

Domestic stock mutual funds are majority part of investor portfolio. One of this best domestic stock fund is Rydex / SGI Mid Cap Value A fund. This best fund invests mainly in small cap stocks. Details about the fund review can be found below.

Rydex / SGI Mid Cap Value A (MUTF: SEVAX)

Rydex / SGI Mid Cap Value

The Rydex / SGI Mid Cap Value fund is seeking long-term growth of capital. The fund generally invests >80% of net assets in equity securities of companies that, when purchased, have market capitalizations that are similar to those of companies in the Russell 2500 Value Index. This Rydex|SGI fund may invest a portion of its assets in options and futures contracts.

This SEVAX fund has $1.53 billion net assets. This fund is in the Small Value category. The annual expense ratio of this fund is 1.37%. The fund dividend yield is 0.22%. This fund does have 0.25% management fee and 5.75% front-end sales load fee. This fund is currently managed by James P. Schier. He has been with this fund since its inception in May 1997. The benchmark of this fund is Russell 2500 Value Index.

Top Performer Closed End Funds of Week 40 Oct 2011

The following is the Top Performer CEFs for week 40 of 2011. The top performing funds include Aberdeen Latin America, Malaysia Fund, Latin American Discovery, and more.

Unlike Mutual Funds, Closed End Funds (CEFs) are traded like stock or exchange traded funds (ETFs). These CEFs can be attractive for investor who seeks value fund and regular income. Some of these Closed End Funds may provide very high income and its market value maybe lower than its Net Asset Value (NAV). Detail funds’ performance can be found in the following table.

The 16 Top Performer Closed End Funds CEFs 2011 (Week 40) are:

1. Aberdeen Latin America (LAQ)
2. Malaysia Fund (MAY)
3. Latin American Discovery (LDF)
4. Nuveen Energy MLP Total Return (JMF)
5. European Equity Fund (EEA)
6. China Fund (CHN)
7. Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets (MSF)
8. Korea Fund (KF)
9. Equus Total Return (EQS)
10. Nuveen MO Premium Income Muni (NOM)
11. Nuveen NC Dividend Advantage Muni (NRB)
12. BlackRock Resources & Commodity Strategy (BCX)
13. Morgan Stanley China A (CAF)
14. ClearBridge Energy MLP Opportunity (EMO)
15. Taiwan Fund (TWN)
16. AllianceBernstein Global High Income (AWF)

Note: Week 40 = October 3, 2011 till October 9, 2011