FBR Balanced Fund (AFSAX)

As part of Best Moderate Allocation Balanced Fund, FBR Balanced Fund has consistently outperformed many of its peer funds. This article will provide the fund’s review and details such as fund’s objective, yield, top holdings, net assets, and more. Details about the fund can be found below.

FBR Balanced Fund (MUTF: AFSAX)

The FBR Balanced Fund’s objective is to provide long-term capital growth and current income. This moderate allocation mutual fund invests in a blend of domestic common stocks, preferred stocks, convertible bonds, high quality domestic corporate, agency, and government bonds. It may also invest in mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities and Yankee bonds. The fund may invest < 10% of assets in high yield bonds or junk bonds.

Fund Details

FBR Balanced Fund details

• Fund Inception Date: September 24, 2001
• Ticker Symbol: AFSAX (Investor Class)
• CUSIP: 30246J653 
• Beta (3yr): 0.86
• Rank in category (YTD): 1%
• Category: Moderate Allocation
• Distribution: 1.73%
• Net Assets: $ 211 million
• Sales Load: 0.0%
• Expense Ratio: 1.24%
• Capital Gains:  N/A
• Number of Years Up: 7 years
• Number of Years Down: 2 years

Updated on 06/2/2012

Royce Opportunity Investment Fund (RYPNX)

According to the latest Forbes Magazine, Royce Opportunity Investment fund is one of the best mutual funds of 2011. The following is the details about the fund review including fund's manager, fund's objective, top 10 holdings, and more. This Royce fund is part of small value US stock fund.

Royce Opportunity Investment (RYPNX)

Royce Opportunity Investment

The Royce Opportunity fund objective is to seek long-term growth of capital. The fund invests mainly in the equity securities of small- and micro-cap companies, those with market capitalizations <$2.5 billion. Although the fund typically focuses on the securities of companies with market capitalizations up to $2.5 billion, it may, in certain market environments, invest an equal or greater percentage of its assets in securities of larger-cap companies and may invest <10% of its assets in foreign stocks.

This investment fund is categorized in Small Value equity fund. Boniface Zaino has managed this Royce fund since April 1998. The fund has $2.15 billion net assets. The annual expense ratio is 1.17%. This fund has no 12b1 fee and no sales load fee. The fund has had 11 years in positive performance since its inception 14 years ago. This fund has returned 20.68% over the past year and 9.08% over the past ten years.

Scout Mid Cap Fund (UMBMX)

Domestic stock mutual funds can be categorized into three main categories: large cap domestic stock fund, mid cap domestic funds, and small cap domestic funds. One of this best mid cap domestic stock funds is Scout Mid Cap. I have provided this investment fund review and details below.

Scout Mid Cap (MUTF: UMBMX)

The Scout Mid Cap fund is seeking long-term capital growth. This Scout fund typically invests >80% of net assets in mid-cap equity securities. According to the fund’s prospectus, this fund will invest in mid cap companies with market capitalizations between $1.5 billion and $17 billion. The fund invests primarily in securities of U.S. companies, but may invest some of the portfolio in foreign companies (<20% of assets), American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs") or Global Depositary Receipts ("GDRs").

James Balanced: Golden Rainbow R (GLRBX) Fund

As part of conservative allocation balanced fund, James Balanced Global Rainbow R is also considered among the best balanced fund. The following article will provide the fund’s review and details such as fund’s yield, top 10 holdings, objective, and more.

James Balanced: Golden Rainbow R (Ticker: GLRBX)

The James Balanced: Golden Rainbow fund’s objective is to achieve total return through a combination of growth and income and preservation of capital in declining markets. This James Advantage fund invests mainly in undervalued foreign & domestic equity securities and in fixed income securities. It typically holds both equity securities and fixed income securities, with > 25% of assets in equity securities (stocks) and >25% of assets in fixed income securities (bonds). Some or all of equity portion of the fund may be invested in small and micro capitalization companies.

Fund Details

James Balanced: Global Rainbow R fund

• Fund Inception Date: July 1, 1991
• Ticker Symbol: GLRBX (Retail Class)
• CUSIP: 470259102
• Beta (3yr): 0.62
• Rank in category (YTD): 29%
• Category: Conservative Allocation
• Distribution Rate: 1.16%
• Net Assets: $ 1.12 billion
• Sales Load: 0.0%
• Expense Ratio: 1.12%
• Capital Gains: N/A
• Number of Years Up: 16 years
• Number of Years Down: 3 years

Updated on 10/19/2011

Daily Worst Performer Closed End Funds CEF on Oct 17 2011

Looking into the worst performer funds may provide additional insight for investor. The worst performer closed end funds for October 17th, 2011 are Turkish Investment Fund, Dreyfus Strategy Municipal Bond, Royce Micro-Cap Trust, and more. These funds are rated based on its performance on October 17th, 2011 (Monday).

About Closed End Funds

Closed End Funds are the opposite of mutual funds or open end funds. Closed End Funds are traded like stocks or ETFs on stock exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX). They can be traded during market day at any time. Their market price can be traded either premium or discount to their NAV. Some of these funds may use leverage to enhance the fund’s performance or return.

Worst Performers

The 11 Worst Performer CEFs on October 17, 2011 are:

Daily Worst Performer CEFs

1. Turkish Investment Fund (TKF)
2. Dreyfus Strategy Municipal Bond (DSM)
3. Dreyfus Municipal Income (DMF)
4. J Hancock Bank & Thrift (BTO)
5. Royce Micro-Cap Trust (RMT)
6. Source Capital (SOR)
7. Western Asset High Yield Defined Opportunities (HYI)
8. Aberdeen Latin America (LAQ)
9. Latin American Discovery (LDF)
10. Morgan Stanley Eastern Europe (RNE)
11. Cohen & Steers Total Return Realty (RFI)

updated on 10/18/2011

Morgan Stanley Institutional Global Franchise Fund (MSFAX)

This article provides mutual fund review of Morgan Stanley Institutional Global Franchise fund. More details about the fund performance, fund details, yield, and more. As part of world stock fund, this Morgan Stanley fund has been one of the best world stock fund.

Morgan Stanley Institutional Global Franchise I (MSFAX)

The Morgan Stanley Institutional Global Franchise investment fund seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation. This Morgan Stanley fund invests mainly in world equity securities of companies that have resilient business franchises and growth potential. It typically invests in securities of issuers from >3 different countries, which may include the United States. The fund focuses its holdings in a relatively small number of companies and can invest <25% of assets in a single issuer. It can also invest in the equity securities of any size company and use derivative instruments.

MSFAX Fund Details

Morgan Stanley Inst. Global Franchise

• Fund Inception Date: November 28, 2001
• Ticker Symbol: MSFAX
• CUSIP: 61744J283 
• Beta (3yr): 0.64
• Rank in category (YTD): 1
• Category: World Stock
• Distribution Rate: 2.69%
• Net Assets: $ 179.21 million
• Sales Load: 0%
• Expense Ratio: 1.0%
• Capital Gains: N/A
• Number of Years Up: 8 years
• Number of Years Down: 1 year

Updated 10/13/2011

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