Mutual Fund Excellence Award Winners: S&P Capital IQ

S&P Capital IQ on Monday announced gold, silver and bronze award recipients in its second annual U.S. Mutual Fund Excellence Awards Program, naming 11 repeat winners and citing 12 fund families as first-time recipients. No fund repeated in the gold category.

Four companies received multiple awards: Vanguard, six; Manning & Napier, two; T. Rowe Price, two; and Tweedy Browne, two.

Formerly known as Standard & Poor’s Equity Research, S&P Capital IQ recognized the recipients as having most consistently achieved the highest overall quantitative five-star ranking in their category. The firm’s research analyzes risk-reward profile, cost factors, manager tenure and the quality of underlying holdings in addition to fees and past performance.

“The funds that won our repeat recipients are on our list because they performed well in the past year, and they own what we think are high-quality stocks or other assets and they don’t charge a lot of money,” said S&P Capital IQ mutual fund analyst Todd Rosenbluth in a phone interview with AdvisorOne. “It’s a challenge to outperform your peers in both a bullish period, like what we saw last year ending in August 2010, and then in more of a bearish period, like the one ending in August 2011.”

This year’s winners, noted here, cover the 12-month period ending Aug. 31, 2011. Funds in bold were recipients of an award in 2010, though no fund finished in the same place.

Global Equity

Gold: USAA World Growth Fund (USAWX)

Silver: Tweedy Browne Worldwide High Dividend Yield Value Fund (TBHDX)

Bronze: Tweedy Browne Value Fund (TWEBX)

International Equity

Gold: Harding Loevner International Equity Portfolio; Investor (HLMNX)

Silver: Manning & Napier International Series (EXITX)

Bronze: Schwab Fundamental International Large Company Index Fund (SFNNX)

Domestic Large Cap Equity

Gold: Dreyfus Appreciation (DGAGX)

Silver: BBH Core Select Fund (BBTEX)

Invesco Disciplined Equity (AWEIX) Bronze

Domestic Mid Cap

Gold: Vanguard Selected Value Fund (VASVX)

Silver: Meridian Growth Fund (MERDX)

Bronze: Fidelity Low-Priced Stock Fund (FLPSX)

Domestic Small Cap

Gold: Homestead Small Company Fund (HSCSX)

Silver: T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Stock Fund (OTCFX)