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 Continuing our series on mutual fund families, in this article we are going to discuss Janus Mutual Funds. We will stick with the format of this series by first commenting on the overall family of funds offered. Next we will talk about the fee structure of Janus, then finish up with a listing of some of the top rated Janus Mutual Funds.
Janus Family of Funds
Janus Capital Group is the holding company for Janus Capital Management LLC, which is one of the largest equity managers in the United States. Based in Denver, Colorado the firm manages roughly $191 billion in mutual fund dollars on behalf of investors. The focus at Janus is on growth, core and international mutual funds, while extending their reach into balanced, fixed income and money market funds.
Janus offers a full line of individual investor services including traditional and Roth IRAs and direct rollover services for IRA and 401k plans. The Janus family of funds includes about 40 mutual funds along with bond funds and money market funds.
Janus Fee Structure and Returns
According to Morningstar, the Janus expense ratios run from below average to average when compared to other mutual funds. The average annual fee charged on a domestic stock fund is just 1.14%. Similar to Fidelity Mutual Funds, the vast majority, nearly 74.0%, of Janus mutual funds are invested in domestic stocks.
You can open an account with Janus with a minimum investment of just $2,500 and 94.8% of the funds offered are no-load mutual funds. This is an important factor when buying a mutual fund, since loads can significantly impact the total return on your investment. As of August 2008, the average return on Janus mutual funds is 10.82% over the last five years.
Top Rated Janus Mutual Funds
Unlike some of the other families of funds, Janus does not have cornerstone mutual fund such as the Magellan fund. However, there are some funds within the Janus family that are standout mutual fund performers. The top rated Janus mutual funds over the past five years include:
- Janus Adviser International Growth S (JIGRX) - with a little over $2.3 billion in assets, this fund's focus is on international growth stocks. The fund's larger stock holdings include the manufacturing (43.6%) and services industries (31.9%). The top three companies held in this fund include Li & Fung Ltd, Reliance Industries, and Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson. The expense ratio of this no load fund is 1.191%. The fund is currently closed to new investors and the total return is 19.13% over the past five years. (August 2008)
- Janus Adviser Forty S (JARTX) - this growth fund aimed at the large cap sector has roughly $6.5 billion in assets. Stock holding emphasize the manufacturing (44.4%) and services (37.1%) sectors. The expense ratio for this no-load mutual fund is 1.15%. Top holdings include Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Inc., Research in Motion, Ltd., and Gilead Sciences, Inc. The minimum investment for this fund is $2,500 and the average return for this fund was 11.57% over the past five years. (August 2008)
- Janus Contrarian (JSVAX) - a large blend fund for individual investors, this fund manages over $6.4 billion in assets. The funds assets are nearly 100% invested in stocks with the top three holdings including Owens-Illinois, Inc., Forest Oil Corporation and Liberty Global. The expense ratio for this no-load mutual fund is 0.96%. The minimum investment is $2.500, and the average return for the fund over the last five years is 12.19%. (August 2008)
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