Navigate to www.morningstar.com (链接到外部网站。). At some point in the process you will be asked to sign up for an account. You DO NOT NEED ANY PAID ACCESS TO COMPLETE THIS ASSIGNMENT. Although you will need to sign up for the free access account. Select the “Tools” tab, then in the middle of the screen, select “Mutual Fund” under “Basic Screeners.” Under “Ratings and Risk,” check the box next to the 5 stars. Use any of the other search features on the page that interest you. I recommend selecting, under the “Cost and Purchase” section, the option for “no-load funds only.” Once you have made some screening choices, then select “Show Results” and the bottom of the page. I do not expect you to be an expert mutual fund screener…just play with it and see what you can learn through exploration. You may need to adjust your screener multiple times before you fine tune it as desired…the important component is to ONLY USE 5 STAR FUNDS.

Now, on the pull-down menu next to “View:” select “Performance.” You can sort these 5-Star funds by clicking on their column heading, such as the “1-Year Return”, and the funds will resort in rank order. Look for consistency across time periods. This is one way to find a list of funds that may deserve further attention. Pick one fund to analyze and pay special attention to all of the following:

• Performance: Current and Trend (HINT: check the “Quotes” page)
• Are there any apparent risks in the top holdings? (HINT: “Portfolio” tab, and then “Holdings”)
• Sector Weightings (HINT: “Portfolio” tab)
• Style map consistency – any drift? (HINT: “Portfolio” tab)
• Risk & Return vs. the category(HINT: “Ratings and Risk” tab and on the “Quote” page)
• Any thoughts about the fund’s management? (HINT: “Management” tab)
• What valuable information can you find on the “tax” tab and what does it tell you about your chosen fund?
• What information do you find on the “expense” tab and what does it tell you about your chosen fund?
• Go to the “filings” tab and search for the prospectus. What is the investment objective?

You may discuss more items than those listed above if you so choose, but be sure to cover each one of the listed topics. Each topic listed above is worth 1 point. The other 1 point is for grammar. You may use the fund that you find through this process in your Stock Trak Project, but you are not required to do so.

You may want to include screen shots of a graphic (using the Snipping Tool in Windows) to enhance your paper, but screen shots should be limited to two small images. You cannot use large images to replace required discussion.

Please organize your paper into subheadings for each numbered section to make it easier for me to read your thoughts. You do not need to label each subheading as “1” through “9.” Your final report should look as if it were ready to hand to a client to explain the nuances of your chosen mutual fund.

A helpful Youtube video can be found at http://tinyurl.com/FIN420-5star (链接到外部网站。).

Required Formatting: 2 pages single-spaced paper detailing what you have discovered. Your document should be in Times New Roman, 12 point font with 1-inch margins. You may use 1 image (google “snipping tool” if you do not know how to use it), but it needs to be no larger than 3 inches by 3 inches.