Five Perpetually Winning Mutual Funds

The New England Patriots will look to complete a perfect season by winning the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Five of the open-end stock mutual funds we rate already have done twice as well with back-to-back perfect seasons of monthly A+ ratings in 2006 and 2007.

As of Dec. 31, 2007, TheStreet.com Ratings ranked and awarded letter grades to 11,732 open-end stock mutual funds. Of those, 3,519 earned the equivalent of a buy rating with letter grades of B- or better. Once multiple-share classes are eliminated, the number of buy-rated funds drops to 1,046 unique funds.

Nearly a quarter of these, or 235 funds, have maintained a buy rating for the past two years by consistently outperforming 70% of the universe of open-end stock mutual funds we rate. Over the identical time period, 32 funds avoided dropping below a grade of A-.

In the first table below are the "Perpetual A+ Winners" -- the five funds with two years of continuous A+ ratings. Especially with the recent market turmoil, it is not easy to outperform 96% of the open-end fund universe for 24 month in a row.

Only four of the seven funds on last quarter's list of Perpetual A+ Winners were able to continue their two-year streak of A+.

The top performer among the Perpetual A+ Winners remains the (AEDAX Quote)AIM European Growth A Fund (AEDAX). Even though the total annualized return over three years slid to 21.63% at year-end from 28.44% in September, it still ranked significantly higher in performance than the other funds we rate.

New to the Perpetual A+ Winners list is the (TEMIX Quote)Franklin Mutual European A (TEMIX) fund. This fund is monetizing its popularity by charge a 5.75% front load and protecting long-term investors with a 2% early withdrawal penalty.

The fund allocation is 11.7% food, 11.4% banks, 7.1% agriculture, 6.8% electric and 5.7% transportation. Large holdings include British American Tobacco (BTI Quote), Imperial Tobacco Group (ITY Quote), Siemens(SI Quote), Daimler (DAI Quote), Nestle(NSRGY Quote) and Anglo American (AAUK Quote).

In the second table are nine additional funds designated as "Perpetual A Winners." These funds have unbroken streaks of either A and A+ grades.

That's darn good.

Today's first reading of fourth-quarter gross domestic product coming in at a dismal 0.6% is a massive drop from 4.9% in the prior quarter.

The increasingly important economic stimulus bill was passed by the U.S. House and has been sent to the Senate. If the senators insist on changing the bill and fail to act quickly, this could be a rough year on world markets.

That bodes well for a Patriot win and matches the expected outcome of the Super Bowl stock market indicator, predicting doom and gloom for the stock market in 2008. Hopefully, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning can avenge his older brother Peyton and save this market.

In mutual funds and all other investments, "Past performance is no guarantee of future performance."

Any of the funds listed in this article could have a bad month and get knocked out of this competition.

Until then, funds with proven track records are a great place to begin your investing consideration.

Perpetual A+ Winners (Funds Maintaining A+ Rating for Two Years)
Fund (Ticker)	Rating	3 Yr Return	1 Yr Return	Style
AIM European Growth A (AEDAX)	A+	21.63%	14.19%	Non-US Equity
JPMorgan Intl Value A (JFEAX)	A+	20.72%	11.32%	Non-US Equity
Franklin Mutual European A (TEMIX)	A+	20.37%	16.87%	Non-US Equity
DFA International Value IV (DFVFX)	A+	19.66%	10.45%	Emerging Market Equity
Dodge & Cox International Stock (DODFX)	A+	18.61%	11.66%	Non-US Equity

Source: TheStreet.com Ratings; performance as of 12/31/2007. Read this for an explanation of our ratings.

Perpetual A Winners (Funds Maintaining A or A+ Ratings for Two Years)
Fund (Ticker)	Rating	3 Yr Return	1 Yr Return	Style
Templeton Inst-Foreign Eq Prim (TFEQX)	A+	20.20%	18.45%	Non-US Equity
DFA Tax Managed Intl Value (DTMIX)	A	19.87%	10.79%	Non-US Equity
T. Rowe Price Intl Gr & Inc Fd (TRIGX)	A	17.80%	8.71%	Non-US Equity
SSgA Intl Stock Selection Fd (SSAIX)	A	17.76%	6.90%	Non-US Equity
Vanguard Tax-Managed Intl Fd (VTMGX)	A+	16.82%	11.15%	Non-US Equity
DFA Large Cap International (DFALX)	A+	16.80%	12.46%	Non-US Equity
American Beacon Intl Eq Index Inst (AIIIX)	A	16.73%	10.68%	Non-US Equity
DWS EAFE Equity Index Fund Inst (BTAEX)	A+	16.48%	10.71%	Non-US Equity
Vantagepoint Overseas Eqty Index I (VPOIX)	A+	15.90%	10.17%	Non-US Equity

Source: TheStreet.com Ratings; performance as of 12/31/2007. Read this for an explanation of our ratings.