The Week's Best and Worst Mutual Funds
Kevin Baker
10/06/06 - 09:04 AM EDT
It's crucial for investors to be in the best-performing mutual funds to suit their investment strategies. TheStreet.com Ratings analyzes mutual funds by investment classes so investors know which ones are performing well -- and which are not.
Below is our recap of the best and worst performers in a variety of open-end mutual fund classifications for the week ending Oct. 4. All total-return figures and stock-price movements were computed over that Wednesday-to-Wednesday period.
Large-Cap
The top-performing large-cap fund was the
(AMDEX Quote)Amidex35 Israel Mutual Fund (AMDEX), which grew 2.9%. Its top holding,
Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA Quote), advanced 2.8%. With a drubbing of 5.8% for the
(TAGRX Quote)John Hancock Large-Cap Equity Fund's (TAGRX) largest position of
British Energy Group(BGY Quote) on the recent reversal in energy prices, the fund lost 2.4% of its value.
Mid-Cap
The
(AFMAX Quote)AFBA 5Star Mid Cap Fund (AFMAX) rose 2.2%; its largest holding,
Checkfree (CKFR Quote), moved up 2.1%. The
(ADJEX Quote)Azzad Ethical Mid-Cap Fund (ADJEX) fared less well, down 1.3%, as holding
Questar (STR Quote) gave up 2.1%.
Small-Cap
The
(BUFSX Quote)Buffalo Small-Cap Fund (BUFSX) improved by 2.2%, bolstered by a 4.4% bump in
WMS Industries (WMS Quote). On the downside,
(ASTRX Quote)Ameritor Security Trust Fund (ASTRX) slid 2.7% as its position in Canada's
Northern Dynasty Minerals(NDM Quote) was cut by 11.3%.
Aggressive Growth
Insider buying by a
Goodrich (GR Quote) director added 2.2% to the stock and 2.1% to the
(HCMAX Quote)Hillman Focused Advantage Fund (HCMAX). The
(NCAPX Quote)New Century Opportunistic Portfolio (NCAPX), a fund of funds, slipped 1.4% as its largest fund holding,
iShares Goldman Sachs Natural Resources Index Fund(IGE Quote), gave back 3.4%.
Growth
(NVLCX Quote)The Wells Fargo Large Company Growth Fund (NVLCX) rose 2.9%; its biggest holding,
eBay(EBAY Quote), skyrocketed 10.3%. On the other hand,
Ceradyne's(CRDN Quote) delinquency in financial reporting cost that company's stock 6.5%, and the
(OBEGX Quote)Oberweis Emerging Growth Fund (OBEGX) 1.9%.
Growth & Income
An appreciation of 3% in
Morgan Stanley(MS Quote) pushed the
(NEFOX Quote)IXIS-Harris Associates Large Cap Value Fund (NEFOX) higher by 1.6%. The
(NCCPX Quote)New Century Capital Portfolio (NCCPX), another fund of funds, fell 1.0% as crude prices pushed down its holding of
iShares Dow Jones US Energy Sector Index Fund (IYE Quote) by 2.7%.
Index
The
(RYVYX Quote)Rydex Dynamic OTC Fund (RYVYX), which aims to return twice as much as the
Nasdaq 100, popped 2.7% as
Microsoft(MSFT Quote) edged 1.8% higher. The Azzad Ethical Mid Cap Fund, which also topped the mid-cap decliners, was down by 1.3% as 4.1% was pumped out of
Noble Energy's (NBL Quote) value.
Sector
Pumped by
Google's(GOOG Quote) 3.2% ascent, the
(INPIX Quote)ProFunds Internet UltraSector ProFund (INPIX) jumped 5.5%. As the Dow Jones Precious Metals Index headed in the other direction by 6.4%, the
(PMPIX Quote)ProFunds Precious Metals UltraSector ProFund (PMPIX), which tracks 150% of the index return, was slashed by 9.6%.
Value
The
(MBOVX Quote)Business Opportunity Value Fund (MBOVX) climbed 2.5% with the help of a 3.6% boost engineered by
Biogen Idec (BIIB Quote). The John Hancock Large-Cap Equity Fund, which was also the large-cap loser, shed 2.4% as its second-largest holding of
Agnico-Eagle Mines(AEM Quote) became 11.4% more undervalued.
Emerging Market
The
(NECAX Quote)ING Emerging-Countries Fund (NECAX) rose 1.7%, and its top holding of
Partner Communications(PTNR Quote) jumped by 6.5%. A 1.7% dip in
Samsung Electronics helped scrape 0.7% off the Templeton Institutional Fund's
(TEEMX Quote) Emerging-Markets Series (TEEMX).
Editor's Note: Over a three-year period, funds in sectors tend to move together, but they can diverge greatly in week-to-week performance. As this article focuses on one-week returns, it is not intended to agree with our ratings that examine time periods of as long as three years. Therefore, it is likely that either the winners or losers may disagree with our longer-term outlook. As a fund being up or down in any given week is not a reason to buy or sell that fund, please be sure any potential investment fits your long-term portfolio goals.
