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

...

BRE, BRE Properties Inc.

KND, Kindred Healthcare Inc.

ESYM, EcoSystem Corp, ESYM.OB

DrStockPick Watch List!

 

DrStockPick Watch List! for Wednesday August 5, 2009

 

My Picks for Wednesday August 5, 2009 are:

**************************************************************

BRE, BRE Properties Inc.

BRE, based in San Francisco, Calif., owns and manages apartment communities convenient to its residents’ work, shopping, entertainment and transit in supply-constrained Western U.S. markets. BRE directly owns and operates 74 apartment communities totaling 21,485 units in California, Arizona and Washington.

BRE invests in communities through acquisition and development, and currently has five properties in various stages of development and construction, totaling 1,526 units, and joint venture interests in 13 additional apartment communities, totaling 4,080

...

Today we are featuring top-performing “Growth/Income" equity mutual funds, which primarily invest in equity securities of companies in pursuit of capital growth and current income.

Investors can find such funds by checking out the entire list of the Zacks #1 Rank Growth/Income Equity Funds.

3 Flourishing Funds

AIM Income Allocation A (ALAAX) seeks a high level of current income with growth of capital as a secondary objective. It is a "fund of funds" and invests its assets in other underlying mutual funds.

The fund seeks to meet its objective by investing its assets in a selection of underlying funds which primarily invest in international or domestic equities, fixed income securities or real estate investment trusts (REITs).

Gary Wendler has been lead manager at the fund since its inception in October 2005. The fund has an expense ratio of 0.28%.

Teberg Fund (TEBRX) seeks capital appreciation plus

...

Investors in common stocks tend to ignore warning signs coming from the credit markets, often at their peril. Right now, the credit markets are broadcasting the following warning: The equity of overleveraged REITs is at risk of elimination or permanent impairment.

Yet the stocks of real estate investment trusts (REITs), which are popular among income-oriented retail investors, are still trading at high enough levels that discount just a garden-variety recession in commercial real estate. REITs were designed to invest in portfolios of rental properties, and generally pay no corporate income taxes if they distribute at least 90% of their profits as dividends to their shareholders.

REITs were designed to thrive in an environment of steadily rising property values and rents. But in this ice age for commercial real estate, the REIT business model will cease to function properly; a REIT’s tax-free status doesn’t allow it to retain much excess

...

Investors in common stocks tend to ignore warning signs coming from the credit markets, often at their peril. Right now, the credit markets are broadcasting the following warning: The equity of overleveraged REITs is at risk of elimination or permanent impairment.

Yet the stocks of real estate investment trusts (REITs), which are popular among income-oriented retail investors, are still trading at high enough levels that discount just a garden-variety recession in commercial real estate. REITs were designed to invest in portfolios of rental properties, and generally pay no corporate income taxes if they distribute at least 90% of their profits as dividends to their shareholders.

REITs were designed to thrive in an environment of steadily rising property values and rents. But in this ice age for commercial real estate, the REIT business model will cease to function properly; a REIT’s tax-free status doesn’t allow it to retain much excess capital during lean

...

According to a report released by Reis Inc., a leading real estate research firm, the US office market vacancy rate has surged to 15.9% in the second quarter of 2009 – the highest in four years. With deteriorating demand for office space, rent decreased by 2.7% during the quarter – the largest plunge in seven years.

Most real estate companies were forced to lower rents to attract and keep tenants. In addition, tenants are demanding more concessions in the form of free rent and capital improvements.

During the quarter, asking rent in the office segment decreased 1.4% to $28.43 per square foot. Taking into account the rent-free months and improvement costs to landlords, effective rents or net cash received as rent decreased 2.7% in the quarter to $23.42 per square foot. Consequently, with decreasing cash flows the risk of loan defaults has increased considerably in the office segment.

According

...

The housing bubble was one for the ages. We’ve all heard stories of one kind or another… There was the glass cutter who earned $5,000 per month, pretax. WaMu gave him a $615,000 home loan with payments of $3,600 per month.

There was a house - a shack, really - that appraised for $132,000 and got a mortgage of $103,000. The owner hadn’t worked in 13 years. Upon foreclosure, a neighbor bought the house and paid $18,000 just to tear the thing down.

America, it seems, just went crazy - borrowers, lenders, nearly everybody. These anecdotes and others are told in a new book titled More Mortgage Meltdown by money managers Whitney Tilson and Glenn Tongue.

But what caused the mania and how we got there is less to the point than what happens from here. Even so, the stories are amazing…

“If the problems in the mortgage market were

...

The full transcript of John Bogle’s recent webinar examining exchange-traded funds and the outlook for America’s investors.

 

As part of the festivities surrounding the 2009 Journal of Indexes editorial board meeting, IndexUniverse.com hosted a live webinar with Vanguard founder and index industry legend John Bogle.

During the one-hour presentation, Mr. Bogle unveiled new research regarding how successful (or not) investors are when trading exchange-traded funds, and took a big picture look at the state of American finance.

Moderated by JoI editor and IndexUniverse.com publisher Jim Wiandt, the webinar features an extensive audience Q&A session. A full transcript follows below.

Jim Wiandt, editor, Journal of Indexes (Wiandt): Good morning everyone, and welcome to a very special event that we have here today. We are actually at the NASDAQ market site and we have the Journal of Indexes editorial board meeting today.

We have

...

Brokerage firm Kotak Securities today tied up with Denmark-based Saxo Capital Markets to launch a trading platform that provides real-time access to equities across 24 stock exchanges.
 
Kotak Trader provides direct access to equities, ETF’s and Real Estate Investment Trusts spanning 24 stock exchanges across the USA, Europe, Asia and Australia, Kotak Securities said in a release.

Kotak Securities Executive Director D Kannan said: “With the growing appetite of Indian investors for overseas investing, we are introducing Kotak Trader which aims to provide the opportunity for the investor to truly diversify their portfolio across geographies, sectors and exchanges.”

Kotak Trader, the global online trading platform provided by Saxo Capital Markets, will provide transparent pricing, real-time streaming news, charting and data analysis system, he said.

What will be the role of Kotak Securities Ltd.?
Kotak Securities Ltd. is an introducing broker to

…

Stocks break-even for 2009… 2 charts detail the strange path to “profitability”… Chris Mayer on Buffett, Berkshire and the latest shareholder’s meeting…Dan Amoss with a sector begging to be shorted…Our in-house bankruptcy adviser on the fate of Chrysler…Plus, a rare Overtime Briefing… investing in the “swine flu”

Arriba! Cinco de Mayo heralds big news for the S&P 500 this morning:

After a manic 36% bounce from its March lows, the S&P 500 has turned positive for the year. It’s now sitting on a whopping 0.4% gain, thank you very much.

But before you down the Cuervo Gold and shimmy onto the parquet for a hat dance… consider this: The resurgence in S&P 500 is being driven by only three sectors: Consumer discretionary, materials and tech. See for yourself.

It’s hard to believe in “bull market”

...