Daily Screen: Communications Funds

Tuesday, the Daily Screen turns to communications funds at what appears to be an awkward time for the category.

Communications funds, also known as telecommunications funds, typically have fairly broad leeway and can invest in hot slivers of the tech/telecommunications sectors, such as wireless, Internet and media stocks. That led to great returns last year when the average communications fund rose more than 70%, according to Morningstar. But this year has been tough, as many of last year's favorites have cooled. The average communications fund is down 9.9% with many of last year's hottest performing funds down much further.

Consequently, the Screen, which usually sifts each category for funds that beat their average peer over the past one- and three-year periods, only came up with two winners: (FSDCX Quote)Fidelity Select Developing Communications and (ISWCX Quote)Invesco Telecommunications. So this screen focuses on the top funds over the past three years, ranking funds by their one-year performance so you can see how hard some of these funds have been hit this year. ...