TSC Ratings Adds Coverage of 18 Stock Funds

During the month of May, TSC Ratings added 18 stock funds to its universe of over 11,000 rated stock funds.

Of the funds that carry a TSC Rating of B or higher, there are three funds that stand out and provide opportunity in the near term -- the ING Marisco International Opportunities Portfolio fund (IMISX Quote - Cramer on IMISX - Stock Picks), the ING MFS Utilities Portfolio Fund (IMUSX Quote - Cramer on IMUSX - Stock Picks) and the Julius Baer International Equity Fund II (JETAX Quote - Cramer on JETAX - Stock Picks).

IMISX invests in foreign stocks in countries like Switzerland (16.99%), France (10.86%), the U.K. (10.64%) and Brazil (7.35%). It allocates approximately 12.77% of assets to the U.S. market. It's quite broad sector-wise, covering the telecommunications, financial services, food, building materials, oil and gas and banking. For those wanting geographical and sector diversification this fund provides both.

IMUSX's focus is in the utilities sector predominantly investing in debt securities of electric (43.74%) and telecommunications (29.30%) companies as well as those oil and gas (14%). It invests mainly in the U.S. (60.72%) and has small allocations of 5% or so in each of the following Spain, Canada, France and the U.K.

Some of the companies in its portfolio include NRG Energy(NRG Quote - Cramer on NRG - Stock Picks), AT&T(T Quote - Cramer on T - Stock Picks), Rogers Communications(RCI Quote - Cramer on RCI - Stock Picks), Williams Coal Seam Gas Royalty Trust(WTU Quote - Cramer on WTU - Stock Picks), El Paso Corp.(EP Quote - Cramer on EP - Stock Picks) and American Electric Power(AEP Quote - Cramer on AEP - Stock Picks).

JETAX is invested in equity securities in international markets and may allocate 35% to emerging markets at any point in time. It is predominantly exposed to France (10.89%), U.K. (9.46%), Germany (8.35%), Japan (6.76%) and Russia (5.92%). JETAX's sector allocations favor banking (20.5%), with lesser exposure to oil and gas (9.52%), telecommunications (8.33%), mining (7.46%), engineering and construction (5.12%) and electric (4.68%).

JETAX's exposure to the international banking sector is of concern, should banking problems take root overseas as they have done in the U.S., remembering that the property bubble is a global event. One would hope that the mortgage underwriting standards overseas were not as lax as they were in the U.S.

Nonetheless, the bigger issue is the specter of a global slowdown and its possible effect in increasing bad debts on the balance sheets of banks worldwide.

Fund Name	Ticker	TSC Rating	1 Month Return	3 Month Return	Category
GMO Strategic Opp Allc III	GBATX	A+	0.96	2.29	Asset Allocation - Domestic
ING Marsico Intl Opp S	IMISX	A+	2.58	6.93	Non-US Equity
ING MFS Utilities S	IMUSX	A+	4.55	9.73	Sector - Utilities
Julius Baer Intl Equity II cl A	JETAX	A+	2.28	5	Global Equity
Merk Hard Currency Fund Investor	MERKX	A+	0.25	0.81	Sector - Financial Services
Ave Maria Rising Dividend Fd	AVEDX	B+	1.63	8.46	Growth & Income
Forward Intl Small Comp Eq A	FFIAX	B+	1.7	5.14	Non-US Equity
ING Pioneer S	IPPSX	B	1.81	4.79	Growth & Income
T. Rowe Price Retirement 2045 Fd	TRRKX	B	2.3	6.68	Growth & Income
Pioneer Ibbotson Conserv Alloc A	PIAVX	C	0.55	1.39	Asset Allocation - Domestic
Forward Hoover Small Cap Eq A	FFHAX	C-	3.72	9.19	Small Cap
Navellier Fundamental A	NFMAX	C-	7.93	5.59	Growth & Income
Rydex Ser-Commodities Strgy A	RYMEX	C-	8.6	15.9	Sector - Other
Appleton Group PLUS Fund	AGPLX	D+	1.21	0.5	Growth - Domestic
Laudus Rosenberg US LrgCap Val Inv	LCVJX	D+	1.71	6.72	Growth - Domestic
Heritage Ser Tr-Core Eq A	HTCAX	D	-1	1.98	Growth - Domestic
SSgA Directional Core Equity Fd	SDCQX	D	-0.19	0.48	Growth - Domestic
American Heritage Growth Fund	AHEGX	E-	0	0	Growth - Domestic
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