The Forbes fund rating system, which goes back half a century, looks at a minimum of two full market cycles and awards separate performance grades for bull and bear markets.
My fund rating methodology is detailed here.
FORBES: Best And Worst ETFs And Mutual Funds: Consumer Staples Sector
To the best of our knowledge no mutual fund rating firm predicted any of the mutual fund scandals or has ever seriously commented upon the legal or ethical issues related to the management of mutual funds.
The FORBES fund-rating system does this, comparing equity funds against their peers for results over two full market cycles stretching back to August 2000.
Many question whether a mainstream fund-rating firm is up to the task, and point out that, if retail investors are led to rely on faulty measures, they may find themselves in trouble.
Ever since we started rating mutual fund performance half a century ago, FORBES has shone a spotlight on fund costs.
Westcore Trust: Westcore Small-Cap Value Fund (WISVX) is my top-rated small-cap value mutual fund and earns my neutral rating.
The international small-cap fund sports a Forbes A rating in down markets and a C rating in up markets.
JPMorgan Trust I: JPMorgan Intrepid Growth Fund (JGIRX) is my top-rated large-cap growth mutual fund and earns my attractive rating.
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The fund gets an "A" rating for bull markets and a "B" for bear market performance.
Quaker Investment Trust: Quaker Strategic Growth Fund (QUAGX) is my worst-rated large-cap growth mutual fund and earns my very dangerous rating.
FORBES: SanDisk Looks Solid Among Holdings Of Large-Cap Growth Funds
Starboard Investment Trust: Roumell Opportunistic Value Fund (RAMVX) is my worst-rated all-cap blend mutual fund and earns my very dangerous rating.
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Forum Funds: Adams Harkness Small Cap Growth Fund (ASCGX) is my worst-rated small-cap growth mutual fund and earns my very dangerous rating.
Figure 3 shows the best ETF or mutual fund based on our portfolio management rating for each sector as of January 23, 2013.
FORBES: Rating Breakdown: Best & Worst ETFs & Mutual Funds By Sector
Patrik Safvenblad, an investment partner at London-based currency hedge fund Harmonic Capital, said a credit rating downgrade would be negative for sterling.
Although Mycal's credit rating had fallen sharply, fund managers at Meiji Dresdner, believing that creditor banks would bail out the retailer, had failed to reduce their Mycal holdings.
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To earn an attractive-or-better predictive rating, an ETF or mutual fund must have high-quality holdings and low costs.
This could taint France, which finances the rescue fund and has recently seen its AAA credit rating come under threat.
The European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) was stripped of its AAA rating yesterday.
Morningstar currently gives USAGX a four-star rating and lists annualized returns for the fund of 24.21% over the last 10 years.
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National guarantees for the fund cannot be increased much for fear of endangering the rating of France and others.
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Our rating of the total annual costs of a fund boils down all the different costs associated with investing into one value that is comparable across all funds.
"With the conversion of a fund, or the opening of ETF shares on an existing fund, you should see the record, the star rating and everything transfer, " said Scott Burns, director of ETF analysis for Morningstar.
Since the EFSF depends partly on France for its own credit rating, a French downgrade could undermine the rescue fund just when it is most needed.
But rating agencies should surely not be involved as supervisors of fund managers, especially of unregulated hedge funds: they ought to be backstops, not gamblers' stooges.
We found that the fund LMVTX allocates 70% of its value to stocks with a Neutral Rating or worse.
The lower average rating and longer maturity range of the Vanguard index give the fund a higher yield, risk and volatility.
Spain or Ireland may try and borrow their share of the bailout fund (such irony), but they do not get that AAA rating.
Sri Lanka's risk rating is likely to be downgraded, while foreign investors and fund managers will think harder before investing in the country.
It has a large financial services division and has come under pressure in recent days on concerns that even it, with its triple-A credit rating, would have trouble selling short-term debt to fund those operations.
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