Closed-ended mutual fund ranking per NAV discount

CLOSED-ENDED MUTUAL FUND RANKING PER NAV DISCOUNT

asset value (NAV), annual expense ratio, and plans to reduce or eliminate discount.

All open-ended mutual funds are guaranteed to perform worse than the securities that they hold. The same applies to many closed-ended mutual funds. However, there is a small group of closed-ended funds, listed below, whose performance expectation is much better than that of the securities they hold. They are not just the best buys among closed-ended mutual funds but are some of the best buys among all stocks whose expected performance can be analyzed mathematically.

probability of high future return on investment made today. Our predictors of future returns: NAV discount and Expense Ratio. A the plans the fund has, if any, to reduce its discount in the near future.

All the funds listed below are recommended. Among them, the reader may wish chose those appearing at the top of the list. Some readers may wish to narrow down the selection further by analyzing other unquantifiable factors: investment policy, sector, dividends, and news about these funds. (We have already factored in the news that some of these funds intend to become open-ended funds or to implement another policy to expedite the reduction or elimination of their discount off NAV. A link to a list of news articles about all the funds we recommend, as well as other information, is given at the bottom of this report.)

We rank funds traded on U.S. markets; however their portfolios may be composed of stocks traded on U.S. or foreign markets. Typically, the best discounts today are obtained for U.S.-traded funds specializing in overseas markets as well as a few U.S. funds specializing in the U.S. market.

Funds with high discount off NAV are likely to reduce their discount in the future, thus offering the investor a good possibility of appreciation of the fund's stock greater than the appreciation of the fund's portfolio. However, funds with high Annual Expense Ratio reduce their investors' profits. Therefore, we balance NAV discount and expense ratio in our rating, as well as funds' intention to actively reduce their discount.

The publically-posted data is a week-old. To access daily-fresh data you may wish to

* rank (9= a steal, 5=excellent, 3=very good, 1=good) 
|  * % discount off NAV 
|  |  * Annual Expense Ratio
|  |  |     * Fund Symbol 
|  |  |     |  * Plans to eliminate discount: grade (1-5) and type (Opening,
|  |  |     |  |        share Repurchasing, Tender offer, Liquidation, asset Distribution)
|  |  |     |  |  * date: recent price/NAV 
|  |  |     |  |  |                     * Fund name 
|  |  |     |  |  |                     |                            * investment policy
|  |  |     |  |  |                     |                            |
|  |  |     |  |  |                     |                            |                 * admin fee
|  |  |     |  |  |                     |                            |                 |

6	47	5.53	EQS	1r	2010-08-19:2.24/4.28	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Equus Total Return, Inc	85% equity in leveraged buyouts of mostly private medium-caps	1.454
6	35	2.61	FXBY		2010-08-27:0.95/1.47	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Foxby Corp	Growth Funds	.500
3	15	0.98	TY	1r	2010-08-27:11.37/13.45	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Tri-Continental Corporation	Core Funds	.421
3	17	1.32	DHFT		2010-08-27:8.31/10.06	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Diamond Hill Financial Trends Fund, Inc	Sector Equity Funds	.482
2	21	2.42	RAP		2010-08-27:16.38/20.86	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	RMR Asia Pacific Real Estate Fund	Real Estate Funds	.983
2	16	1.52	HQH	2d	2010-08-27:11.31/13.42	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	H&Q Healthcare Investors	Hlth svc & med tech stks	1.186
2	18	1.62	GIFD		2010-08-27:3.69/4.50	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Global Income Fund, Inc	Global Income Funds	.700
2	17	1.59	RMT		2010-08-27:7.35/8.85	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Royce Micro-Cap Trust, Inc	Core Funds	1.381
2	17	1.58	HQL		2010-08-27:9.02/10.83	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	H&Q Life Sciences Investors	Healthcare stks; global	1.187
2	14	1.09	USA	1d	2010-08-27:4.01/4.67	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Liberty All-Star Equity Fund	Multi-mngd; 3 value; 2 g	.948
2	18	2.08	BIF		2010-08-27:5.82/7.11	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Boulder Growth & Income Fund, Inc	Core Funds	1.761
2	14	0.96	PEO		2010-08-27:21.13/24.49	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Petroleum & Resources Corporation	Sector Equity Funds	.687
2	19	2.42	DCA		2010-08-27:2.73/3.37	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	DCA Total Return Fund	Real Estate Funds	1.220
2	15	1.66	GDV		2010-08-27:12.58/14.88	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Gabelli Dividend & Income Trust	Value Funds	1.430
2	13	1.23	SWZ		2010-08-27:11.56/13.26	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Swiss Helvetia Fund, Inc	Swiss equity	.848
2	12	1.04	SOR		2010-08-27:41.33/47.12	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Source Capital, Inc	Core Funds	.797
2	12	0.97	BDT		2010-08-27:9.13/10.36	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	BlackRock Strategic Dividend Achievers Trust	Core Funds	.749
1	15	1.93	GAM		2010-08-27:22.21/26.27	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	General American Investors Company, Inc	Core Funds	1.573
1	18	2.62	RNP		2010-08-27:12.01/14.62	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Cohen & Steers REIT & Preferred Income Fund, Inc	Real Estate Funds	1.240
1	13	1.30	BCV		2010-08-27:15.44/17.65	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Bancroft Fund Ltd	Convertible securities	.800
1	12	1.41	JEQ		2010-08-27:5.18/5.93	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Japan Equity Fund, Inc	Developed Market Funds	.655
1	17	2.63	MGU		2010-08-27:15.43/18.54	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Macquarie Global Infrastructure Total Return Fund	Sector Equity Funds	1.446
1	19	3.30	DNY		2010-08-27:14.17/17.54	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Denali Fund Inc	Core Funds	2.669
1	16	2.55	TF		2010-08-26:12.9/15.42	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Thai Capital Fund, Inc	Pacific Ex Japan Funds	1.2.
1	11	1.20	ECF		2010-08-27:6.7/7.53	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Ellsworth Fund Ltd	Convertible securities	.800
1	10	1.08	BKT		2010-08-27:6.93/7.73	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	BlackRock Income Trust, Inc	US Mortgage Funds	.788
1	10	1.03	SPE		2010-08-27:13.1/14.56	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Special Opportunities Fund, Inc	Core Funds	.397
1	16	2.48	UTF		2010-08-27:14.6/17.32	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Cohen & Steers Infrastructure Fund, Inc	Sector Equity Funds	1.295
1	11	1.43	ETF		2010-08-27:17.08/19.23	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Aberdeen Emerging Markets Telecommunications Fund, Inc	65% equity of telecommunications in emerging countries	1..4
1	11	1.37	BLU		2010-08-27:3/3.38	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Blue Chip Value Fund, Inc	Core Funds	.747
1	9	1.22	ZF	1d	2010-08-27:3/3.30	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Zweig Fund, Inc	Core Funds	.915
1	10	1.16	MAY		2010-08-27:9.96/11.03	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Malaysia Fund, Inc	Pacific Ex Japan Funds	.898
1	10	1.13	RFI		2010-08-27:11.11/12.34	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Cohen & Steers Total Return Realty Fund, Inc	Real Estate Funds	.737
1	9	1.13	ESD		2010-08-27:18.78/20.70	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund Inc	Emerging Mkts Debt Funds	.850
1	16	2.86	MFD		2010-08-27:11.98/14.32	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Macquarie/First Trust Global Infrastructure/Utilities Dividend & Income Fund	Income & Pref Stock Fds	1.419
1	10	1.22	GCF		2010-08-27:14.52/16.09	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Global Income & Currency Fund Inc	Global Funds	.900
1	9	1.18	CMK		2010-08-27:8.35/9.13	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	MFS InterMarket Income Trust I	33% each: fixed US Government bonds, foreign governments, high yield	.777
1	10	1.57	JPC		2010-08-27:8.03/8.98	Ch Hi Ne Go MS CN CB Bl Ho Se	Nuveen Multi-Strategy Income & Growth Fund	Income & Pref Stock Fds	.947

Charts and news about the above funds: Yahoo MSN MarketWatch

Updated: 2010/08/28 08:11

Disclaimer: we do not recommend purchase or sale of any particular funds, merely present a compilation and mathematical manipulation of publicly available data; while we try to compile correct data, we cannot guarantee data correctness and are not responsible for its use.

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