Morningstar Category
While the investment objective stated in a fund's prospectus may or may not reflect how the fund actually invests, the Morningstar Category is assigned based on the underlying securities in each portfolio. Morningstar Categories are designed to help investors and investment professionals make meaningful comparisons between funds. The Categories make it easier to build well-diversified portfolios, assess potential risk, and identify top-performing funds. The following is a list and explanation of the Morningstar Categories. We place funds in a given category based on their portfolio statistics and compositions over the past three years. If the fund is new and has no portfolio history, we estimate where it will fall before giving it a more permanent category assignment. When necessary, we may change a category assignment based on recent changes to the portfolio.
Equity Style Box
The Morningstar Style Box is a nine-square grid that provides a graphical representation of the investment style of funds. For stock funds, it classifies securities according to market capitalization (the vertical axis) and growth and value factors (the horizontal axis).
Market Total Return YTD, 12 mo, 3 Yr Ann, 5 Yr Ann
Morningstar calculates the market-price return by taking the change in the fund's market price, reinvesting all income and capital-gains distributions during the period, and dividing by the starting market price.
Expense Ratio %
The annual expense ratio, taken from the fund's annual report, expresses the percentage of assets deducted each fiscal year for fund expenses, including management fees, administrative fees, operating costs, and all other asset-based costs incurred by the fund. Portfolio transaction fees or brokerage costs are not included in the expense ratio.
The expense ratio, which is deducted from the fund's average net assets, is accrued on a daily basis. If the fund's assets are small, its expense ratio can be quite high because the fund must meet its expenses from a restricted asset base. Conversely, as the net assets of the fund grow, the expense percentage should ideally diminish as expenses are spread across the wider base. Funds may also opt to waive all or a portion of the expenses that make up their overall expense ratio.
Total Assets $MM
The net assets of the fund, recorded in millions of dollars. Net-asset figures are useful in gauging a fund’s size, agility, and popularity. They help determine whether a small-company fund, for example, can remain in its investment-objective category if its asset base reaches an ungainly size.
12-Month Yield
Expressed as a percentage, this figure represents a fund’s income return on capital investment for the past 12 months. It refers only to interest distributions from fixed-income securities, dividends from stocks, and realized gains from currency transactions.
Daily Market Price
The price at which a closed-end fund may be bought or sold. The market price of a closed-end fund share generally differs from the NAV; this price difference—resulting in a premium or discount—is one of the main distinctions between closed-end funds and open-end mutual funds.
Daily NAV
A fund's net asset value (NAV) represents its per-share price. A fund's NAV is derived by dividing the total net assets of the fund, less fees and expenses, by the number of shares outstanding.
Premium/Discount 12-Month Average
The amount by which a fund's market price is greater or less than the NAV, expressed as a percentage of the NAV. A negative number indicates that the fund's shares sold at a discount to NAV, and a positive number indicates that shares sold at a premium. For example, if the number shown is -10.0, the shares sold at a 10% discount to NAV.
Prospectus Objective
Indicates a particular fund’s investment goals, based on the wording in a fund's prospectus. If a fund invests in a way not in keeping with the wording of its prospectus or its fund name, our editors may move the fund into another group.
Ticker
The three- or four- letter trading symbol assigned to the fund by the exchange on which it trades.