#1 Worst Mutual Fund: Federated Prudent Bear
YTD Return: -16%
Federated Prudent Bear (MUTF:PBRCX), a mid-cap growth fund, has a strategy of short selling some U.S. equities while holding long positions in others, with the short positions predominant in the portfolio.
Top 3 Holdings
1. S&P 500 Index Futures: 57% of assets
2. C.H. Robinson (NASDAQ:CHRW): 1.1% of assets
3. Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR): 1% of assets
Manager(s): Ryan Bend has been lead manager on PBRCX since December 2008 and specializes in selecting securities for the short portion of the PBRCX portfolio.
Takeaway: It has been a bad year for bear market mutual funds, but PBRCX has had a tougher time than some of its peers in the category. It doesn’t help that the fund’s expense ratio of nearly 2.5% is significantly higher than the category average of just under 2%. There’s also PBRCX’s 1% load to consider.
| Expense Ratio |
Front Load |
Deferred Sales Load |
Min. Initial Investment |
Assets under management |
| 2.5% | N/A | N/A | $1,500 | $1.03 billion |
As of this writing, Susan J. Aluise did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned investments.
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