Market Mondays Mutual Fund Pick of the Week: James Market Neutral

Last week’s Market Mondays featured an overview of mutual fund basics and key concepts to fund investing.  There is one correction to last week’s post in regards to the Management Fee explanation.  In actuality, you will typically see what is known as the “expense ratio” of the mutual fund.  Management fees are a piece of this expense ratio but not all of the expenses incurred by the fund are due to manager’s salaries, therefore the broader term of expense ratio is more appropriate.

This week’s Market Mondays virtual portfolio addition is another mutual fund, James Market Neutral (JAMNX).  James Market Neutral is what is referred to as an equity fund.  Equity funds invest primarily in stock, whereas fixed-income funds invest primarily in bonds.  Last week’s mutual fund pick, AIG Retirement I Government Securities (VCGSX), is a fixed-income mutual fund so it seemed appropriate to scour the markets for an equity fund that has fared well through the financial market meltdown of late.

James Market Neutral (JAMNX) is a no-load fund with a very low expense ratio of 1.91%.  The net asset value (NAV) was $12.14 at the time of purchase this morning with total assets of $49 million.  JAMNX is invested in all of the big sectors with the highest percentage of assets invested in Healthcare, Consumer Services (think retail mostly), Industrial Materials, Energy, and Utilities.  JAMNX is performing well in the current environment delivering year-to-date (YTD) returns almost 15% better than its fund category average.  The fund category average is approximately -16.5%, however that is reflective of the broader market.  Over the past five years, JAMNX has outperformed its fund category by 3.2%.  This fund is solid for diversification because it weathers financial market storms well by minimizing losses.

Recap of Market Mondays Virtual Portfolio

Aflac (AFL) incurred losses this week dropping to $43.56 per share at opening this morning.  That is a -4.42% return to date.  Datascope (DSCP) continues to provide a positive return with the per share price of $51.51 at open this morning.  AIG Retirement I Government Securities (VCGSX) increased NAV from $10.73 to $10.78 resulting in a NAV increase of $0.05.  The virtual portfolio has a blended return of 1.0% due mostly in part to the losses incurred this week by Aflac.  Next week’s Market Mondays will feature a downloadable Excel spreadsheet tool to analyze and track the performance of your portfolio.