Mutual Funds

There is no universal definition for value investing. One thing value fund managers have in common is they are looking for stocks believed to be worth moderately or significantly more than their current share price. How a manager defines value will determine the portfolio and, ultimately, its performance. There are years when some value funds have high double-digit returns while others have negative returns, even though all of the value funds may be small, mid, or large cap.

The most frequently used measurement of investment risk is standard deviation. The measurement is used in math and science; it is calculated using a series of numbers. The first step in computing standard deviation is to calculate the mean or average. The second step is to determine the range of returns of the numbers, measured from the mean or average.

Alpha measures the difference between expected and actual returns of a mutual fund, based on its beta. A positive alpha, no matter how small, is considered good. A negative alpha is considered bad or slightly below average, depending on how negative the number is. 

FHFA is the federal agency regulating Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and 12 Federal Home Loan Banks. The index below represents home sales throughout the U.S. NAREIT is a real estate investment trust trade group. The index is comprised of all publicly traded equity REITs in the U.S. The largest real estate mutual fund oversees $6 billion.