WHEATON, Ill., March 16, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Monetta Financial Services, Inc., the investment advisor for the Monetta Family of No-Load Mutual Funds, is pleased to announce that the Monetta Intermediate Bond Fund has been awarded an Overall Morningstar Rating of 5 stars among 1,773 Fixed Income Funds, as reported for the period ended February 28, 2001.
Gary Schaefer, Co-Manager of the Monetta Intermediate Bond Fund said, "We are very pleased with this recognition as our emphasis on high quality bonds and moderate duration investment approach has been very effective in preserving principal and generating a consistent income stream to investors. Receiving an overall 5 star ranking demonstrates that the Monetta Intermediate Bond Fund has consistently delivered above average long-term performance when compared to its peers."
Mr. Schaefer believes that this active, conservative, core approach will continue to enhance investment returns. The Fund's out-performance is a result of portfolio management strategy that focuses on three major elements -- duration/maturity management, sector allocation and individual security selection. Based on current yield spreads, the Fund prefers to overweight the non-treasury sector of the bond market, as the overall risk of the Fund is minimized through sector and company diversification.
For the period ended December 31, 2000, the one-year, three-year and five-year average annual returns for the Monetta Intermediate Bond Fund were 8.13%, 5.13% and 6.66%, respectively. Since the inception date of March 1, 1993, the average annual return was 6.98%.
The Monetta Intermediate Bond Fund is one of seven mutual funds in Monetta's no-load mutual fund family. In addition to the Intermediate Bond Fund, the Monetta Family of Mutual Funds includes Monetta Fund, Monetta Small-Cap Equity Fund, Monetta Mid-Cap Equity Fund, Monetta Large-Cap Equity Fund, Monetta Balanced Fund and the Monetta Government Money Market Fund.
For further information, including a Prospectus, which details charges and expenses, please contact Monetta Shareholder Services at 1-800-MONETTA (666-3882) or 630-462-9800. Please read the Prospectus carefully before you invest. Investment results represent past performance and are no guarantee of future investment results.
(A) Performance includes dividends less management fees and other expenses. Investment results represent past performance and are no guarantee of future investment results. The principal value and return on your investment will fluctuate and, on redemption, may be worth more or less than your original cost.
(B) Morningstar proprietary ratings reflect risk-adjusted performance and are subject to change every month. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Morningstar ratings are calculated from the Funds' three-year, five-year and ten-year returns (with fee adjustments) in excess of 90-day Treasury bill returns, and a risk factor that reflects fund performance below 90-day T-bill returns. Ten percent of the funds in a rating category receive five stars, the next 22.5% receive four stars. For the three and five year periods ending February 28, 2001, the Fund received 4 and 5 stars, respectively, based on the 1,733 and 1,311 fixed income funds rated.