Christian ETF Family Outperforms Due to Equal-Weight Approach
February 10 2010 - 10:19AM
PR Newswire (US)
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla., Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- FaithShares Advisors
is very proud to present the initial returns for its family of
Christian Exchange Traded Funds. During the turbulent times since
the launch in mid-December, the funds have outperformed the broad
markets' performance. "The funds' performance is really not a
surprise to us," said J. Garrett Stevens, the Chief Executive
Officer of FaithShares Advisors. "We specifically designed the
funds with an equal-weighting of the stocks in the portfolio in an
effort to outperform the broad markets during most types of market
cycles. Even though it is a very short period of time, these
results begin to verify the hypothetical back-testing we did." Each
of the five FaithShares funds, the FaithShares Baptist Values Fund
(FZB), the FaithShares Catholic Values Fund (FCV), the FaithShares
Christian Values Fund (FOC), the FaithShares Lutheran Values Fund
(FKL) and the FaithShares Methodist Values Fund (FMV) are
re-balanced each June to have 100 large-cap equally weighted stocks
in each portfolio. While the equal weighting is the main source of
excess return, so far it also appears that stock selection will
play a significant role. When each of the funds' performance is
compared to that of the equally-weighted S&P 500 index, there
is outperformance there as well. FaithShares believes that using
the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rankings from KLD
Research and Analytics to select the companies in their indexes
will have a significantly positive impact on the funds. "We think
that using the KLD ESG ranking will allow us to have some of the
best run, most ethically managed companies in the large cap
universe in our portfolios," says Tom Phillips, President of
FaithShares. "We also believe this will keep us from having too
many negative surprises out of management such as litigation
related to unethical business practices or fines from federal
regulators because of poor environmental standards for example."
Investors can purchase the funds through their investment advisor
or discount broker. Please see the performance table below.
FaithShares ETF Returns through January 31, 2010 NAV Return
Inception NAV Return Fund Symbol To Date* January 2010 ---- ------
----------- ------------- FaithShares Catholic Values FCV 0.75%
-3.16% FTSE/KLD FaithShares Catholic Values Index 0.87% -3.20%
---------------------- ---- ----- FaithShares Christian Values FOC
0.69% -3.19% FTSE/KLD FaithShares Christian Values Index 0.81%
-3.23% ----------------------- ---- ----- FaithShares Methodist
Values FMV 0.66% -3.12% FTSE/KLD FaithShares Methodist Values Index
0.77% -3.16% ----------------------- ---- ----- S&P 500 *
-1.65% -3.60% *Inception Date is 12/8/2009
---------------------------- NAV Return Inception NAV Return Fund
Symbol To Date* January 2010 ---- ------ ----------- -------------
FaithShares Baptist Values FZB -2.53% -3.36% FTSE/KLD FaithShares
Baptist Values Index -2.44% -3.29% --------------------- -----
----- FaithShares Lutheran Values FKL -2.74% -3.18% FTSE/KLD
FaithShares Lutheran Values Index -2.68% -3.16%
---------------------- ----- ----- S&P 500 * -3.61% -3.60%
*Inception Date is 12/14/2009 ----------------------------- Expense
ratio for all funds is 0.87%. About FaithShares Advisors Mr.
Phillips and Mr. Stevens together bring over 40 years of investment
experience to this endeavor. Mr. Phillips also owns a
broker-dealer, T.S. Phillips Investments, Inc., which is comprised
of 17 investment consultants and oversees almost $1 billion in
client assets, as well as an RIA, Phillips Capital Advisors. Mr.
Phillips and Mr. Stevens have worked closely together for 10 years
and in that time have experienced firsthand the frustrations
encountered by Christian organizations as they attempt to balance
their desire for long-term investment growth with their desire to
avoid objectionable industries. They currently provide investment
performance analysis services for over $3 billion in investor
assets. The daily operations of FaithShares will be conducted
primarily by Mr. Stevens, while Mr. Phillips will take on the role
of corporate spokesperson. The performance data quoted represents
past performance and does not guarantee future results. Investment
return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that
an investor's shares, when sold or redeemed, may be worth more or
less than their original cost. Current performance may be higher or
lower than the performance quoted. For performance data current to
the most recent month end, please call1-877-FAITH55
(1.877.324.8455), or visit http://www.faithshares.com/. Shares are
bought and sold at market price, not NAV, and are not individually
redeemed from the fund. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns.
Carefully consider the Funds' investment objectives, risk factors,
charges, and expenses before investing. This and additional
information can be found in the Funds' prospectus, which may be
obtained by calling 1-877-FAITH55 (1.877.324.8455), or by visiting
http://www.faithshares.com/. Read the prospectus carefully before
investing. This information is not an offer to sell or a
solicitation of an offer to buy shares of any Fund to any person in
any jurisdiction in which an offer, solicitation, purchase or sale
would be unlawful under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.
Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.
In addition to the normal risks associated with investing, narrowly
focused investments typically exhibit higher volatility.
FaithShares Funds are distributed by SEI Investments Distribution
Co., which is not affiliated with FaithShares Advisors, LLC or any
of its affiliates. DATASOURCE: FaithShares Advisors, LLC CONTACT:
Hibre Teklemariam for FaithShares Advisors, LLC, +1-703-894-1057, ;
or Thompson S. Phillips, Jr., President, , or J. Garrett Stevens,
Chief Executive Officer, , both of FaithShares Advisors, LLC,
+1-405-778-8377 Web Site: http://www.faithshares.com/
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