Russia, Leveraged Stock Funds Top Charts

Two funds that invest in resource-rich Russia were joined, appropriately, by a global resources fund in the top 10 open-end stock mutual funds for May. Seven "leveraged" funds rounded out the membership of the accompanying table.

The ING Russia Fund(LETRX Quote), the JPMorgan Russia Fund(JRUAX Quote) and the BlackRock Global Resources Fund(SSGRX Quote) all rode the energy and resources boom to gains in the 12%-15% range in May, with each ahead in the 45%-47% range over the past 12 months.

LETRX is managed by a unit of ING Groep(ING Quote) while LETRX is in the fund unit of JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote) and JRUAX is a Blackrock(BLK Quote) fund.

The "global" in the Blackrock Global Resources Fund's name does not represent as broad an international focus as might be assumed. More than 90% of its investments are in North America, with 72% of its holdings in the United States and 19% in Canada.

Although the leveraged funds on the list -- identified by "Ultra" as well as "2X" and "2.5X" embedded in their names -- experienced resounding gains in May, their longer-term performances have been spotty. Four have losses for the year to date, two of them in the double digits. Three turned in negative returns for the past 12 months, while two others remained in positive territory by less than a single percentage point.

The pitfalls of leverage funds can be exemplified by the ProFunds UltraSector Mobile Telecomm Fund(WCPIX Quote), the leading stock fund for the month. While its one-month advance of 22.15% is impressive, investors are advised to focus on its year-to-date negative return of 31.37% and its 12-month tumble of 62.20%.

Because leveraged funds move at twice or more the amplitude of conventional funds, their representation on "winners" lists is virtually assured. But in months with weak markets, they are virtually sure to also dominate the south end of the performance array.

BEST PERFORMING STOCK FUNDS FOR MAY
NAME, TICKER & TheStreet.com RATINGS GRADE	MAY '08 RET'N (%)	YR-TO-DATE TOTAL RET'N (%)	12-MO. TOTAL RET'N (%)	TOTAL NET ASSETS ($MIL)	MAX. INIT. SALES CHG. (%)
ProFunds-Mble Telcm UltraSector Inv (WCPIX) E-	22.15	-31.37	-62.20	7.3	0.00
ProFunds-Ultra Latin America Inv (UBPIX) U	18.75	36.10	N/A	52.7	0.00
Direxion Latin America Bull 2X Inv (DXZLX) U	16.61	33.96	70.23	364.7	0.00
ING Russia A (LETRX) B+	15.22	8.73	47.40	1,047.7	5.75
Direxion Nasdaq 100 Bull 2.5X Inv (DXQLX) U	13.99	-13.83	-5.81	29.0	0.00
JPMorgan Russia A (JRUAX) U	13.66	11.01	45.12	4.4	5.25
Direxion Mid Cp Bull 2.5X Inv (DXMLX) U	12.79	1.00	-21.49	5.7	0.00
BlackRock Global Resources Inv A (SSGRX) C	12.38	29.60	45.69	1,091.1	5.25
ProFunds-Ultra Nasdaq-100 Inv (UOPIX) D-	11.85	-8.95	0.03	281.3	0.00
Rydex Dyn-NASDAQ 100 2x Strgy A (RYVLX) E+	11.65	-9.20	0.19	17.3	4.75
Source: TheStreet.com Ratings - Data as of 5/31/2008. For an explanation of our ratings, click here.