Today we are featuring top-performing “Real Estate" equity mutual funds, which primarily invest in equity securities of real estate companies.

Investors can find such funds by checking out the entire list of the Zacks #1 Rank Real Estate Equity Funds.

3 Excellent Examples

Dryden Global Real Estate A (PURAX), founded in May 1998, seeks high current income and long-term growth of capital.

The fund invests at least 80% of its assets in equity-related securities of real estate companies, principally real estate investment trusts (REITs). The fund invests in those securities with price that will increase over time, as well as pay the fund dividends and other income.

The fund has an expense ratio of 1.35%. As of June 2009, it has a portfolio turnover of 67%.

Marc R. Halle has been lead manager of the fund since January 2007. Halle is a managing director for Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI) and is responsible for

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Today we are featuring top-performing “Real Estate" equity mutual funds, which primarily invest in equity securities of real estate companies.

Investors can find such funds by checking out the entire list of the Zacks #1 Rank Real Estate Equity Funds.

3 Excellent Examples

Forward Select Income A (KIFAX) was incepted in March 2001. The investment seeks high current income and potential for modest long-term growth of capital.

The fund invests primarily in securities of companies in the real estate industry, such as real estate investment trusts, master limited partnerships and other real estate firms. The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in income-producing securities.

Shareholders have to make a minimum initial investment of $2,000 to enter this Zacks#1 Rank (“Strong Buy") fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.77%.

Joel S. Beam has been Lead Manager of the fund since March 2001. Prior to joining Kensington, Beam was with Liquidity Financial

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Franklin Biotechnology Discovery A (MAPTX) seeks capital appreciation by primarily investing in securities of biotechnology companies and discovery research firms.

This non-diversified fund may invest a substantial portion of assets in equity securities of smaller capitalization companies with a market capitalization of less than $1.5 billion.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD), Celgene Corp. (CELG) and Genzyme Corp. (GENZ) are among the fund’s key holdings.

Franklin Real Estate Securities A (FREEX) was incepted in January 1994. The investment seeks maximize total return.

The fund normally invests most of its assets in equity securities of real estate firms. It may invest up to 20% of assets in equity or debt securities of issuers engaged in businesses whose products and services are closely related to the real estate industry.

Shareholders have to make a minimum initial investment of $50,000 to enter this Zacks#1 Rank (“Strong Buy")

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j2 Global Communications Inc. (JCOM) recently announced that its flagship eFax line of products will now be available in 3,300 cities across 46 countries. This indicates a growth of around 62% in the last three years. The company delivers integrated communications services through its unique digital facsimile and voice messaging systems. These services are marketed under the brand names of eFax, eFax Corporate, eFax Developer, Fax.com, Send2Fax and eFax Broadcast.

Individuals and institutions are increasingly using digital faxing services to reduce costs and improve security. This helps the company’s corporate fax system to flourish even during the economic downturn. Digital facsimile system is widely used by financial services, insurance and real estate firms across the world. Large enterprises are now focused on reducing hardware footprints and operating expenses. j2 Global commands approximately 30% of the world digital faxing system, well ahead of its close rivals Captaris Inc. (

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According to a report published by Jones Lang LaSalle, Incorporated (JLL), a leading full-service real estate firm, direct investments in commercial real estate (CRE) in Europe declined by 42% in the first half of 2009, compared to the last six months of 2008.   Jones Lang LaSalle provides corporate, financial and investment management services to corporations and other real estate owners, users as well as investors worldwide. The company has a broad real estate product and service range and an extensive knowledge of domestic and international real estate markets. The company has approximately 180 offices worldwide serving clients in about 60 countries.   The current problems in the credit markets will continue to have a negative effect on real estate prices in the US and Europe. Overall real estate fundamentals are worsening across most property types in the US, Europe and Asia. Europe has been especially hard hit. ...

Stock of the Day: Altria (NYSE: MO)

by Ted Leinbach, Research Team, The Oxford Club 

High Yield Dividends & Recessions: How Sustainable Are They?

With many stocks these days offering up mouth-watering dividend yields, here’s the big question on every investor’s mind…. is it too good to be true?

The answer: Yes and No.

Historically, global dividend payments have tended to hold up quite well in the teeth of previous recessions. With the exception of 2002 and the mid-seventies when payments fell by less than 5%, dividends continued to rise. 

But this recession is different in a few ways. For example, with corporate profits falling and extremely tight credit, more companies are likely to cut their dividends in an effort to preserve capital.

To avoid these pitfalls, we use a filter to help identify strong companies with sustainable dividends. And we’ll show you why Altria (NYSE: MO) is a company that

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