REITs - Real Estate Investment Trusts - Info & Discussion: Do the REIT thing
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Do the REIT thingYield hunter James Stratton scores with realty funds
By Craig Tolliver, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:03 PM ET Aug. 23, 2001
PHILADELPHIA (CBS.MW) -- Real estate funds are on a tear this year, reaping gains when every other sector fund category is nestled in the red.
As of Wednesday, real estate funds are up nearly 12 percent since the beginning of the year, according to mutual fund analyst Morningstar Inc. Only the small value diversified equity group, up 13 percent, and precious metals funds, considered an international play, up 14 percent, outpace the segment this year.
The $113 million Stratton Monthly Dividend REIT Fund (STMDX: news, chart, profile) has leaped ahead of its peers, sporting a 26 percent year-to-date gain. Over the last three years, the fund boasts average returns over 11 percent.
Generally speaking, real estate funds operate in a direct inverse to the Standard & Poor's 500 index, and Stratton is no exception, so it shouldn't be too surprising that these funds have picked up -- especially in a falling interest rate environment.
What has distinguished Stratton from the other players in the group is its attention to high yield. In fact, fund manager James W. Stratton argues that his fund shouldn't be viewed as part of another stock allocation to an investor's portfolio, but that it's more appropriate as a "bond substitute."...
-- posted by KLR
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