Falls Church, Va., 5/19/16 – Azzad Asset Management today announced that its investment portfolios have been recognized with one of the asset management industry’s highest honors. The firm’s REIT (real estate investment trust) strategy and small-cap growth stock strategy were awarded “Top Guns” distinction from Informa Investment Solutions’ PSN manager ranking database for the first quarter and 1-year periods ending March 31, 2016. Additional recognition was given to the Azzad REIT strategy for the 3-year period.
This is a highly anticipated quarterly ranking and is widely used by institutional asset managers and investors.
“The PSN Top Guns ranks products in six proprietary star categories in over 50 universes,” said Leno Toich, managing director of Informa Investment Solutions. “This data-driven award recognizes elite performers on the leading investment manager database in North America and provides high-level exposure to hundreds of institutional clients and investors across our platform.”
Achieving the Top Guns distinction means that the Azzad REIT and small-cap growth strategies are among the top 10 performers within one or more peer groups reporting to Informa, the longest running investment manager database in North America. In addition to top 10 performance by both portfolios in their respective asset class categories, the REIT and small-cap growth strategies also earned accolades for their performance in the broader U.S. equity and growth universes, respectively.
The Azzad REIT portfolio earned similar recognition in the third and fourth quarters of 2015.
See: Azzad’s REIT strategy achieves ‘Top Gun’ rating
See also: Azzad real estate strategy ranked #1 again
A highly concentrated portfolio, Azzad’s REIT portfolio generally holds fewer than 25 stocks and is managed by an internal investment team at Azzad. After screening the entire universe according to Azzad’s ethical screens, the investment team employs quantitative criteria to assess a company’s future earnings growth potential. The portfolio is constructed with a bias to large cap REITs and was launched in 2004.
Azzad’s small cap growth portfolio seeks to achieve a return equal to or greater than the Russell 2000 Growth Index. Kayne, Anderson Rudnick Investment Management has been the portfolio manager since its inception in August 2013. The investment philosophy focuses on the “high-quality” subset of the small cap asset class. The manager believes that this emphasis on high-quality businesses, anchored by fundamental, bottom-up research, will achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns over a complete market cycle.
Azzad oversees eight investment portfolios and two mutual funds. All potential investments are screened in accordance with the firm’s socially responsible investing (SRI) guidelines, which exclude companies whose business practices are deemed harmful to society or the environment.
PSN and Informa Investment Solutions have no affiliation with Azzad Asset Management, but rather evaluate investment managers’ performance on an objective basis. Products in the 1-Star Category were top ten performers within their respective universes, based on quarterly returns; products in the 2-Star Category were top ten performers within their respective universes, based on returns for the one-year period; and products in the 3-Star Category were top ten performers within their respective universes, based on returns for the three-year period.
Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investments carry risks, including possible loss of principal.
ABOUT AZZAD
Azzad Asset Management, investment advisor to the Azzad Funds, is committed to providing investment services designed to help people enjoy optimum performance without compromising their values. Azzad believes that companies operating in ethical lines of business offer relatively less business risk and are in a better position to thrive in the long-term. The firm’s proprietary screening process allows the manager to prudently manage client assets in a manner consistent with their values.
Azzad is a member of the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, and the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions. Based outside Washington, D.C., the firm is a registered investment advisor with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Contact: Azzad Investment Communications Director Joshua Brockwell, 703-207-7005, ext. 109, joshua@azzad.net; Amina Rubin, 703-207-7005, ext. 120, amina@azzad.net
PSN and Informa Investment Solutions have no affiliation with Azzad Asset Management, but rather evaluate investment managers’ performance on an objective basis. Products must have an R-Squared of .80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for the latest five year period ending March 31, 2016. Moreover, products must have returns greater than the style benchmark for the three latest 3-year rolling periods ending March 31, 2016. Products are then selected that have a standard deviation for the five year period equal or less than the median standard deviation for the peer group. At this point, the top 10 information ratios for the latest 5-year period ending March 31, 2016 then become the 6 Star TOP GUNS. This is a highly anticipated quarterly ranking and is widely used by institutional asset managers and investors. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investments carry risks, including possible loss of principal.
