Semiconductor Funds Shorted Out This Week

In reviewing the 10 best- and 10 worst-performing technology, Internet and telecommunications sector funds this week, we can see that semiconductor and associated electronics funds shorted out.

Alternatively, telecom funds connected shareholders to gains from servicing the portable-device trend.

Excluding the inverse funds shorting the tech sector, the average fund we track lost 1.56% for the five trading days ending Thursday, July 24.

On the bullish side, more and more people worldwide want to stay connected with each other at broadband speeds. These customers pay monthly subscriptions for their phones, organizers, games, and combined gadgets.

A substantial portion of that revenue goes to the telecom and wireless equipment makers held by the Broadband HOLDRs Trust(BDH Quote). 58.4% of the fund is invested in Qualcomm(QCOM Quote).

With Qualcomm and Nokia(NOK Quote) settling all their expensive, long-running lawsuits and agreeing to use each other's technology patents, they can focus on doing business. In the 15-year agreement, Qualcomm collects upfront fees and ongoing royalties from Nokia.

Another broadband holding, Alcatel-Lucent(ALU Quote), reported Tuesday that Suo Cable Net of Japan has selected the company to deploy the latest generation of optical fiber-to-the-home technology. At speeds up to 2.5 gigabits per second, large files and full length movies become easy to handle.

On the bearish side, Texas Instruments(TXN Quote) fell 18.02% this week. This member of the Dow Jones U.S. Semiconductor Index, on which the Ultra Semiconductor ProShares(USD Quote) is 200% leveraged, stands to lose its spot as one of Nokia's largest chip suppliers.

Broadcom(BRCM Quote) also shed 18.44% as it is less likely to get a piece of the Nokia chipset business. Other holdings getting hit include losses of 21.39% from MEMC Electronic Materials(WFR Quote), -29.97% at Photronics(PLAB Quote), and -25.39% at SanDisk(SNDK Quote).

Best Performing Technology Funds for the Week Ending Thursday July 24
Fund	Ticker	Rating	Fund Type	1 Week Total Return
UltraShort Semiconductors ProShares	SSG	B+	ETF	14.16%
Broadband HOLDRs Trust	BDH	E+	ETF	7.18%
ProFunds Mobile Telecommunications UltraSector ProFund	WCPIX	E-	Open-End	5.98%
Kinetics Internet Emerging Growth Fund	WWWEX	E	Open-End	5.52%
UltraShort Technology ProShares	REW	C-	ETF	5.25%
Ultra Telecommunications ProShares	LTL	U	ETF	5.09%
Wireless HOLDRs Trust	WMH	C+	ETF	3.28%
Matthews Asian Technology Fund	MATFX	C	Open-End	2.39%
PowerShares Lux Nanotech Portfolio	PXN	E+	ETF	2.31%
FBR Pegasus Small Cap Growth Fund	FBRCX		Open-End	1.95%
Source: Bloomberg & TheStreet.com Ratings

Worst Performing Technology Funds for the Week Ending Thursday July 24
Fund	Ticker	Rating	Fund Type	1 Week Total Return
Ultra Semiconductor ProShares	USD	E	ETF	-12.55%
ProFunds Semiconductor UltraSector ProFund	SMPIX	E-	Open-End	-10.13%
iShares S&P North American Tech-Semiconductors Index Fund	IGW	D-	ETF	-8.07%
Semiconductor HOLDRs Trust	SMH	D	ETF	-7.72%
Rydex Series - Electronics Fund	RYSIX	E+	Open-End	-6.72%
SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF	XSD	E	ETF	-5.86%
Fidelity Advisor Electronics Fund	FELAX	E	Open-End	-5.49%
Fidelity Select Electronics Portfolio	FSELX	E+	Open-End	-5.45%
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Technology Index Fund	QTEC	D-	ETF	-5.24%
Spectra Technology Fund	SPETX	U	Open-End	-5.19%
Source: Bloomberg & TheStreet.com Ratings

For an explanation of our ratings, click here.

 

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