Citizens Value Fund Caps Expenses Below Averages New Institutional Share Class Launches.BOSTON -- Citizens Advisers announced that it has lowered the total expense ratio of the Citizens Value Fund to 1.29%, putting the fund's expenses below the Morningstar Large Blend and Lipper Large-Cap Large-cap A stock with a high level of capitalization, usually at least $5 billion market value. large-cap 1. Of or relating to the common stock of a big corporation that has considerable retained earnings and a large amount of Core category averages. The company is also announcing the launch of an Institutional share class of the Citizens Value Fund. The I-shares will have a total expense ratio of 0.90% with a $1 million minimum investment and are available now. "The Citizens Value Fund has been a solid performer for several years and is becoming better known among both individual and institutional investors Institutional Investor A non-bank person or organization that trades securities in large enough share quantities or dollar amounts that they qualify for preferential treatment and lower commissions. ," said Sean Driscoll, executive vice president. "A reduced expense ratio and Institutional share class should add to that momentum." Over three years ago, Sophia Collier Sophia Collier is the founder and chair of the Board of Directors of Citizens Advisers, Inc. and is the creator of the Citizens IndexSM, an index of socially responsible large-capitalization companies. , president and founder of Citizens Advisers, began managing the fund with a rigorous "relative value" investment process. The combination of a well defined and repeatable investment process, as well as manager skill, has delivered strong results. Consider the following about the Citizens Value Fund. --Received a 4-Star Morningstar Rating(TM) for the three-year period ending 2/28/06 --Ranked in the 4th percentile percentile, n the number in a frequency distribution below which a certain percentage of fees will fall. E.g., the ninetieth percentile is the number that divides the distribution of fees into the lower 90% and the upper 10%, or that fee level by Lipper Analytical analytical, analytic pertaining to or emanating from analysis. analytical control control of confounding by analysis of the results of a trial or test. Services for the 3 year annualized annualized Of or relating to a variable that has been mathematically converted to a yearly rate. Inflation and interest rates are generally annualized since it is on this basis that these two variables are ordinarily stated and compared. period ending 2/28/06 --Outperformed the Morningstar Large Blend average for the 3-year annualized period ending 2/28/06 --Outperformed its benchmark (S&P 500 Index) for the 1- and 3-year annualized periods ending 2/28/06
Citizens Value Fund: Average Annual Returns and Rankings as of
2/28/06:
3 YEAR 5 YEAR SINCE
1 YEAR (ANNUALIZED) (ANNUALIZED) INCEPTION
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Citizens Value Fund 10.88% 20.41% 0.78% 8.27%
S&P 500 Index 8.40% 17.10% 2.36% 8.63%
Morningstar Large Blend
category average 9.06% 16.80% 2.18% --
Lipper rankings - Large-
Cap Core category 17% 4% 56% --
Citizens Value Fund: Average Annual Return and Rankings as of
12/31/05:
3 YEAR 5 YEAR SINCE
1 YEAR (ANNUALIZED) (ANNUALIZED) INCEPTION
Citizens Value Fund 7.93% 17.09% 1.61% 7.94%
S&P 500 Index 4.91% 14.38% 0.54% 8.45%
Morningstar Large Blend
category average 5.77% 14.00% 0.50% --
Lipper rankings - Large-
Cap Core category 17% 5% 14% --
Data presented reflects past performance, which is not a guarantee of future results. Current performance, including the most recent month-end performance, which may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted, may be obtained at www.citizensfunds.com. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed re·deem tr.v. re·deemed, re·deem·ing, re·deems 1. To recover ownership of by paying a specified sum. 2. To pay off (a promissory note, for example). 3. , may be worth more or less than their original cost. Fee waivers are currently in place and were instituted in the past to maintain expense limit without which returns would have been lower. Performance data includes that of the Meyers Pride Value Fund, established on June 13, 1996 (fund's inception date), which contributed its portfolio securities in exchange for Standard shares of Citizens Value Fund on September 24, 2001. The S&P 500 Index is an unmanaged broad-based index Broad-Based Index An index designed to reflect the movement of the entire market. The smallest broad-based index is the Dow Jones Industrial Average with 30 industrial stocks, and the largest is the Russell 300 Index. that includes 500 of the most widely held U.S. companies. Direct investment cannot be made in this index. The Morningstar Large Blend category Large-blend portfolios are fairly representative of the overall U.S. stock market in size, growth rates Growth Rates The compounded annualized rate of growth of a company's revenues, earnings, dividends, or other figures. Notes: Remember, historically high growth rates don't always mean a high rate of growth looking into the future. , and price. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization capitalization n. 1) the act of counting anticipated earnings and expenses as capital assets (property, equipment, fixtures) for accounting purposes. 2) the amount of anticipated net earnings which hypothetically can be used for conversion into capital assets. of the U.S. equity market are defined as large-cap. The blend style is assigned as·sign tr.v. as·signed, as·sign·ing, as·signs 1. To set apart for a particular purpose; designate: assigned a day for the inspection. 2. to portfolios where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. These portfolios tend to invest across the spectrum of U.S. industries, and owing to owing to prep. Because of; on account of: I couldn't attend, owing to illness. owing to prep → debido a, por causa de their broad exposure, the portfolios' returns are often similar to those of the S&P 500 Index. Morningstar Rating(TM) For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating based on risk-adjusted return Risk-Adjusted Return A measure of how much risk a fund or portfolio takes on to earn its returns, usually expressed as a number or a rating. Notes: This is often represented by the Sharpe Ratio. The more return per unit of risk, the better. measure that accounts for variation in a fund's monthly performance (including the effects certain fees) placing more emphasis on downward variation and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4-stars, the next 35% receive 3-stars, the next 22.5% receive 2-stars and the bottom 120% receive 1-star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages) The Overall Morningstar Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-and ten-year (if applicable) Morningstar rating metrics metrics Managed care A popular term for standards by which the quality of a product, service, or outcome of a particular form of Pt management is evaluated. See TQM. . The Citizens Value Fund was rated against the following number of U.S. -- domiciled dom·i·cile n. 1. A residence; a home. 2. One's legal residence. v. dom·i·ciled, dom·i·cil·ing, dom·i·ciles v.tr. 1. large blend funds Blend Fund A mutual fund composed of various asset classes (such as stocks, bonds and money market securities), allowing investors to diversify their holdings by owning just a single fund. Also called "hybrid funds". over the following time periods ending 2/28/06: HHHH 4-stars among 1,477 funds for the 3-year period, H 1-star among 1,147 funds for the 5-year period, and HH 2-stars among 1,477 funds for the overall rating. Morningstar rating is for the Standard share class only; other classes may have different performance characteristics. (C) 2006 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and /or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Lipper rankings are for Standard shares when rated by Lipper, Inc. among large-cap core funds based on the total return for the one-, three- and five-years periods ended 12/31/05 and ended 2/28/06. The Citizens Value Fund was ranked against the following number of U.S. large cap core equity funds over the following time periods ending 12/31/05: ranked 141 out of 877 funds for the 1 year period, 34 out of 745 funds for the 3 year period and 80 out of 606 funds for the 5 year period; and for time periods ending 2/28/06: ranked 145 out of 894 funds for the 1 year period, 29 out of 765 funds for the 3 year period and 346 out of 623 funds for the 5 year period. Stock values fluctuate in response to individual company actions, as well as general economic, political and market conditions. Value stocks Value stocks Stocks with low price/book ratios or price/earnings ratios. Historically, value stocks have enjoyed higher average returns than growth stocks (stocks with high price/book or P/E ratios) in a variety of countries. may fall or remain flat if certain conditions or investor perceptions do not change as expected, or if the companies prove not to be under priced. Please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of Citizens Funds carefully before investing. For this and other information, please call or visit www.citizensfunds.com for a free prospectus and read it carefully before investing. Distributed by Citizens Securities, Inc. About Citizens Advisers Founded in 1982, and with $850M in assets under management Assets Under Management (AUM) is a term used by financial services companies in the mutual fund and money management or investment management business to gauge how much money they are managing. , Citizens Advisers has been a thought leader in its approach to investment management and socially responsible. With a core focus on strong, long-term performance, Citizens' mission is to generate the best possible returns for shareholders by investing in companies that are fundamentally strong and socially responsible. Citizens' unique investment management approach revolves around its proprietary integrated research that takes into account financials, in combination with all the variables that affect prospects for success and growth over time. For more information, please visit www.citizensfunds.com. |
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