Mutual Fund Center

Sometimes Fund Investors Win by Not Losing

Stock quotes in this article: QQQQ , SPY , GLD , IWF , XLK , EFA , XLI , XRT  

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The equity mutual fund that received the highest initial rating in a monthly review carries the motto "winning by not losing," which refers to the so-called wisdom of "buy and hold" investing as a myth.

Stadion Managed Portfolio Trust(ETFFX), which was awarded a grade of A-plus from TheStreet.com Ratings, holds exchange traded funds and employs a quantitative technical model that considers market factors of advance/decline indicators, new highs versus new lows, relative strength among asset classes and changes in interest rates to determine how much or how little exposure to equities is appropriate. During the bear market that began a little more than a year ago, and gave way to a bull market, nearly all investment categories posted massive declines, as there was no escape from the financial crisis.

Stadion Managed Portfolio Trust was one of two stock mutual funds that opened for business in September of 2006 and received our highest rating level of "excellent." In all, TheStreet.com Ratings initiated coverage of 14 open-end mutual funds that accrued a track record of three years of risk and performance data by the end of September.

The Stadion Managed Portfolio Trust succeeded in missing most of the recent stock-market collapse. The price for that service is a high 5.75% initial sales fee and 1.8% gross expense ratio that would have changed a three-year return to 2.64% and one-year return to just 0.21%.

Currently the fund's indicators are pointing up, and the ETF selection model favors putting 24% in PowerShares QQQ(QQQQ), 20% in SPDR Trust Series 1(SPY), 15% in iShares Russell 1000 Growth(IWF), 9.8% in Technology Select Sector SPDR(XLK), 9.7% in iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund(EFA), 9.6% in Industrial Select Sector SPDR(XLI), 4.9% in SPDR S&P Retail ETF(XRT) and 2.9% in SPDR Gold Trust(GLD).

Newly Rated Stock Mutual Funds
Fund (Ticker) Initial Rating
Total Return 1 Year
Total Return 3 Years
Stadion Managed Portfolio Trust (ETFFX) A+
6.31%
4.68%
Van Kampen Asset Allocation Conservative Fund (VACAX) A-
7.16%
1.05%
WHG Balanced Fund (WHGBX) B-
-5.54%
-0.63%
Stadion Core Advantage Portfolio (ETFRX) C+
-0.52%
-1.26%
TCW Balanced Fund (TGBNX) C+
0.24%
-3.00%
Van Kampen Asset Allocation Moderate Fund (VAMAX) C+
4.77%
-0.28%
Van Kampen Asset Allocation Growth Fund (VKAAX) C
4.44%
-0.88%
Phocas Small Cap Value Fund (PHSVX) C-
-3.91%
-3.14%
Perimeter Small Cap Growth Fund (PSCGX) D
-6.40%
-3.38%
Neuberger Berman Small and Mid Cap Growth Fund (NBATX) D-
-9.61%
-3.33%
MassMutual Premier Main Street Small Cap Fund (MPUAX) E
-4.75%
-4.88%
Touchstone Diversified Small Cap Growth Fund (TDSAX) E
-10.74%
-3.20%
UBS US Equity Alpha Fund (BEAAX) E-
-6.72%
-6.55%
Phocas Real Estate Fund (PHREX) E-
-22.31%
-9.75%
Source: TheStreet.com Ratings
Data as of most recent month-end

Funds rated A or B are considered "buy." Those at the C level are "hold," while underperformers at D and E are "sell."

For more information, check out an explanation of our ratings.

-- Reported by Kevin Baker in Jupiter, Fla.

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Kevin Baker became the senior financial analyst for TSC Ratings upon the August 2006 acquisition of Weiss Ratings by TheStreet.com, covering mutual funds. He joined the Weiss Group in 1997 as a banking and brokerage analyst. In 1999, he created the Weiss Group's first ratings to gauge the level of risk in U.S. equities. Baker received a B.S. degree in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. with a finance specialization from Nova Southeastern University.

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