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Monthly Mutuals Analysis
Dateline:
January 18, 2001
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With oil and energy stocks continuing to hit new highs throughout the last month, it's not surprising that the Top 25 Funds for one month as tallied at The Vancouver Sun website is dominated by resource funds. In November gold and specialty funds shone. In December - black gold!
Fully 18 of the top 25 funds for the months were resource or energy funds. And while resource funds sometimes invest in a mix of precious metals and energy stocks, they are primarily invested in oil and gas these days. The remaining top 25 are rounded out by three specialty funds, two small caps and two labour sponsored funds.
Of particular note are the Middlefield funds. Four made the list, of which three are Limited Partnership funds. These afforded investors generous tax advantages as well as substantial growth because they are structured to invest in the oil and gas market on a flow through basis. That is, the tax advantages such as depletion allowances that oil companies get are passed on to the individual investor.
The downside to such limited partnerships is that they are closed end funds and have no liquidity for two years, after which they can be converted without tax liability into shares of the Middlefield Growth Fund, an open ended fund that trades freely. Growth Fund shares can be exchanged tax free into still other Middlefield funds.
Topping the Top 25 for the month is the Friedberg Currency Fund. As noted last month, the Friedberg funds do well when the rest of the market is in turmoil. Two Friedberg funds made the Top 25, but their contrarian strength is really shown in the Three Month performance records where five of the top ten are Friedberg funds. Yes, their long term records generally suck, but for those with the stomach to hold some as a hedge for market downturns, they seem to do the trick.
Here are the Top Ten Funds in December:
| Rank | Fund | Type | 1 Month | 3 Month | 1 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Friedberg Currency Fund | Specialty | 25.77% | 30.51% | 2.45% |
| 2 | StrategicNova Managed Futures Fund | Specialty | 23.88% | 55.97% | 25.90% |
| 3 | MRF 1998 III Limited Partnership | Resource | 18.72% | 12.02% | n/a |
| 4 | MRF 1999 II Limited Partnership | Resource | 16.94% | 4.68% | n/a |
| 5 | AIM Global Natural Resources U$ | Resource | 16.82% | -8.71% | -4.57% |
| 6 | C.I. Global Energy Sector Shares U$ | Resource | 16.45% | 7.95% | 34.10% |
| 7 | Universal U.S. Emerging Growth Fund U$ | Small Cap | 16.11% | -27.24% | -29.07% |
| 8 | Universal World Resource Fund U$ | Resource | 16.07% | 4.66% | 17.39% |
| 9 | Centerfire Growth Fund Inc. | Labour | 15.75% | 13.94% | 29.95% |
| 10 | Friedberg Futures Fund | Specialty | 15.18% | 22.41% | -21.72% |
Power Performers
| Definitions |
| Power
Performers Those mutual funds returning better than 20% for each of the 1 year, 3 year and 5 year periods. |
Super Power
Performers |
Bad went to worse in December as the number of Power Performers continued to decline in the face of market weakness. In November the number was slashed from 40 to 4. December saw that number halved again - only two Power Performers in December. They were the Resolute Growth Fund and the AGF International Value Fund.
There are signs that the market has bottomed, though that is still unsettled. The months going forward will be interesting to watch.
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