|
|
|
ONLINE FEATURES
Book Reviews
BW Video
Columnists
Interactive Gallery
Newsletters
Past Covers
Philanthropy
Podcasts
Special Reports
BLOGS
The Auto Beat
Byte of the Apple
Europe Insight
Eye on Asia
Getting In
Investing Insights
The New Entrepreneur
NEXT: Innovation Tools & Trends
On Media
Technology at Work
The Tech Beat
Traveler's Check
TECHNOLOGY
Product Reviews
Tech Stats
Hands On
AUTOS
Home Page
Auto Reviews
Car Care & Safety
INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip FINANCE Investing: Europe Annual Reports Bloomberg BW50 SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth Companies: 2008 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs Rankings & Profiles |  |
MAY 28, 2007
In A Big World, Few Open Doors Global investing is hot, and finding a good foreign mutual fund is tough. Of the 16 diversified funds rated "A" in the foreign category by BusinessWeek, only these five are still open to new investors COLUMBIA ACORN INTERNATIONAL FUND Z (ACINX) 5-yr. avg. annual total return: 22.2%* Expense ratio: 0.94% From their perch in Chicago, managers Zach Egan and Louis Mendes are buy-and-hold investors who search the planet looking for companies with above-average growth rates and strong balance sheets. As a result, their $4.8 billion no-load portfolio has an eclectic mix of 189 stocks, including UrAsia Energy, a Kazakhstan-based uranium miner. You'll pay a 2% redemption fee on shares held fewer than 60 days. FORWARD INTERNATIONAL SMALL COMPANY (PISRX) 5-yr. avg. annual total return: 25.0%* Expense ratio: 1.60% Pictet, a Swiss asset manager, runs this fund using quantitative analysis and bottoms-up research. More than 42% of the $300 million fund's assets are in European companies, such as Premiere AG, a German broadcaster. The no-load fund's expense ratio is usually 1.66%, although it has been temporarily cut to 1.60% to entice new investors. JANUS OVERSEAS FUND (JAOSX) 5-yr. avg. annual total return: 22.0%* Expense ratio: 0.91% Manager Brent Lynn is a fan of fast-growing companies with seasoned management teams and high returns on capital. But what makes this $7.9 billion no-load fund stand out is a well-balanced mix of large-company stocks (Sony and Samsung are top holdings) with mid- and small-company holdings. Lynn also takes concentrated country bets: Right now the fund is focused on Hong Kong, Brazil, India, and Japan. With a low expense ratio, it's also one of the cheapest foreign funds to own on our A-list. OPPENHEIMER INTERNATIONAL SMALL COMPANY (OSMAX) 5-yr. avg. annual total return: 31.0%* Expense ratio: 1.20% Fund manager Rohit Sah has bulked up the $2.6 billion fund with investments in Asia and Canada, and nearly 40% of the fund is invested in Canadian energy and mining stocks. That hasn't left much room for European companies, which make up less than 15%. Sah is also a fan of young companies that have gone public within the past five years. Only serious investors should apply: The minimum investment is $50,000. The fund has a front-end load of 5.75%. T. ROWE PRICE INTERNATIONAL DISCOVERY (PRIDX) 5-yr. avg. annual total return: 25.9%* Expense ratio: 1.24% Nearly half of this $2.7 billion growth fund is invested in Europe, with an additional 25% allocated to the Pacific Rim. London-based lead manager Justin Thomson looks for growth companies like Financial Technologies, an Indian outsourcer of specialty financial software. Other top holdings include Austar Communications, an Australian satellite-television company, and SGL Carbon, a German manufacturer of carbon, graphite, and composite materials. * Pretax returns through Apr. 30  By Lauren Young Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
 Copyright 2007, Bloomberg L.P.Terms of Use | Privacy Notice |
Printer-Friendly Version