Mutual Funds - General Discussion

Top 24. Jun 8, 1999 8:34 AM

» litab16 - Thanks for the Janus Chart

Jen,

Thanks for pulling together the chart. Janus Global Health Sciences (JAGLX) does seem to have promise. Janus Global Technology (JAGTX) is looking even better and is still relatively low priced for Janus. It's YTD is 45.8% on a share price of $14.58. I added Janus Enterprise (JAENX), as a mid-cap growth fund, to the mix because that one is also showing promise.

New YTD Janus Chart.

-- posted by litab16

Top 25. Jun 8, 1999 9:06 AM

» litab16 - Cheap Might Have Been the Wrong Word

Kirk,

Of course, no thought of a mutual fund splitting, but both funds - Janus Global Technology and Janus Global Life Sciences - are new. Both were started December 31, 1998 and getting into them is less pricey than other Janus funds, which range $40 to $60 per share. Historically new mutual funds tend to increase more rapidly in fund price during their first two years if well managed. I'll try to find a link that discusses and post it.

-- posted by litab16

Top 26. Jun 9, 1999 10:50 AM

» Thruhiker - Lita

You write "Both were started December 31, 1998 and getting into them is less pricey than other Janus funds, which range $40 to $60 per share."

Huh?

-- posted by Thruhiker

Top 27. Jun 15, 1999 5:55 AM

» litab16 - American Century Select Loses Management Team

Here's an alert from SmartMoney about a major management void at American Century Select:

"PAY ATTENTION, shareholders of American Century Select (TWCIX). Your mutual fund management team is no more. Last week, Evergreen Funds, a division of First Union (FTU), hired Select manager Jean Ledford, 52, to be its new president and CEO. That was the
beginning of the cupboard cleaning. Ledford's co-manager Richard Welsh will also join Evergreen, as well as two of the $7 billion Select fund's three analysts.

"It was unexpected," said Chris Doyle, a spokesman for American Century, the nation ninth-largest fund manager. "Jean and Richard did an excellent job. They're leaving a four-star Morningstar fund."

"Select is the third-largest mutual fund at American Century, and one of the country's 100 largest mutual funds. When Ledford took over AC Select at the beginning of 1997, the fund was struggling. Its five-year return of 47% was less than half of the S&P 500's 103% return over the same period. Ledford turned the performance around, gaining 89.8% in just under two-and-a-halfyears, beating the S&P 500 by six percentage points, according to the New Jersey fund tracking company Lipper."

-- posted by litab16

Morningstar performance chart for FDVLX.

Top 28. Jun 18, 1999 1:19 AM

» JenL_3 - What's been hot the past 3 months?

These posts copied from the "Internet Stock" thread:

Author: ourisman (David Ourisman)
Date: June 16, 1999 5:53 PM
Subject: What's been hot the past 3 months?

I did a comparison of an internet fund, WWW Internet Fund (WWIFX), two small-cap value funds, Mutual Discovery Z (MDISX) and Third Avenue Value Fund (TAVFX), and the S&P500. The results may surprise you.
As of yesterday's close, WWIFX is *down* over 10%. The SP500 is just about even. TAVFX is *up* 8%. And Mutual Discovery is *up* 9%.

Author: JenL_2
Date: June 16, 1999 6:43 PM
Subject: I-Net Index Outperforms

David - Let's take a look at your funds on a...

Quicken.com Chart

WWIFX = WWW Internet Fund
MDISX = Mutual Disc. Z
TAVFX = 3rd Ave Value

The question is though....
What is going to outperform the rest of the year?.....Jen

Author: ourisman (David Ourisman)
Date: June 16, 1999 7:18 PM
Subject: a *three month*

The Quicken.com chart was a YTD comparison, and WWIFX *is* ahead YTD. My point was that small-cap value has done quite well over the past *3 months*, a period in which internet stocks have done quite poorly.
I found it interesting that a couple of unglamorous value funds had done so well. The Mutual Series Funds, in particular, were thought to be undesirable following the departure of Michael Price. It looks like his well-groomed successors of bottom fishers are carrying his mantle quite well.

Author: JenL_2
Date: June 16, 1999 9:12 PM
Subject: OK - Try Again!

David - Here's a 3 mo chart that does indeed show the small cap funds outperforming the internet index fund:

Quicken.com 3 mo. chart

That makes a big difference....Jen

Author: KirkL (Kirk Lindstrom)
Date: June 16, 1999 9:21 PM
Subject: Kirk Feels Lucky

I own Fido Value Fund

FDVLX added to Jen's Chart WOW!

Kirk Lindstrom - Editor: Investing and Personal Finance

Author: litab16
Date: June 16, 1999 11:43 PM
Subject: Nice Recovery

Kirk,

That's a nice recovery after a really bad year last year. Here's the

Lita Epstein

Author: KirkL (Kirk Lindstrom)
Date: June 17, 1999 9:41 AM
Subject: Charts.

Charts.... what gets me on the charts is dividends... if a company pays a hefty dividend, do the charts account for this?

Until recently, FDVLX has been a laggard... I almost sold it... I might do so still the next time I can afford to rebalance, need some cash or run out of HWP stock to sell down.... One good thing, my percentage of equities in it is only 2%.

I sometimes use the fund comparason Java evaluator at Fidelity to compare funds, but it often crashes and is not too fast as it reloads all the time.

Anyone have a good free fund evaluator url?
Usually Yahoo! is fine if I print out all the data and compare the sheets for each fund.

Kirk Lindstrom - Editor: Investing and Personal Finance

Author: litab16
Date: June 17, 1999 10:00 AM
Subject: Fund Analyzer

Kirk,

My favorite fund analyzer is at SmartMoney:

http://www.smartmoney.com/si/analyzer/

Lita Epstein

Author: ourisman (David Ourisman)
Date: June 17, 1999 8:15 AM
Subject: FDVLX vs. TAVFX and MDISX over a longer term...

Check out a longer term comparison (5 yrs) between Fidelity Value, Third Avenue Value, and Mutual Discovery:

5 year chart

-- posted by JenL_3

Top 29. Jun 20, 1999 4:16 AM

» litab16 - Balanced Funds

Here's a good overview from CBS Marketwatch about balanced mutual funds for those of you thinking about seeking safe harbor.

The article does a wonderful job of describing the investing style of each of the funds, so you can figure out which best meets your needs.

-- posted by litab16

Top 30. Jun 20, 1999 1:21 PM

» JenL_3 - Balanced Funds

Thanks Lita for the CBSMarketWatch.com article on balanced funds. Actually I've got "boring" Dodge & Cox Balanced fund (DODBX) in one 401K plan, and last time I checked it was around 38% of equtities in the total portfolio. Boring but safer......Jen

-- posted by JenL_3

Top 31. Jun 21, 1999 4:35 AM

» litab16 - Janus Global Technology Finally Reveals Portfolio

For those of you that have been waiting to see the details, the portfolio of Janus Global Technology was finally revealed and covered in a story by SmartMoney.

Here is a excerpt from the story:

"So far this year, the Global Tech fund has been Janus' hottest offering. Through the first four months of 1999, it's also been the fastest-growing new mutual fund, according to the Financial Research Corporation. Manager Mike Lu has guided the fund to a 46.4% gain, the 11th best performance from a retail fund, according to the New Jersey fund-tracking company Lipper. But he's also kept his stock picks close to his vest. Until today, when Janus' semiannual reports were filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lu's portfolio was a mystery."

Go to the link above at SmartMoney to see the details of the portfolio.

-- posted by litab16

Top 32. Jun 21, 1999 4:39 AM

» litab16 - Internet Fund will Not be Sold

SmartMoney revealed today on its website that the sale of the Internet Fund to Lepercq de Neuflize, the Manhattan investment firm that struck a deal to buy the $654 million fund earlier this year, fell through. "That means the Internet Fund's investment adviser will still be Kinetics Asset Management, a tiny investment company that makes its headquarters in the one-story home of Frank Costa, a retired postal worker and former school board president of North Babylon, N.Y.

"The Kinetics group, which includes Costa, former North Babylon superintendent Margaret Doyle and her son Peter Doyle, doesn't look to be retiring anytime soon on their accumulated Internet wealth. They've already made one important change to the fund this year, raising its expense ratio -- an annual fee that covers a fund's management, marketing and other costs -- from 2% to 3.08%. That puts the Internet Fund's fee further above that of the average science and technology fund, which has a 1.74% expense ratio, according to the New Jersey fund-tracking company Lipper."

-- posted by litab16