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Mutual funds question

DT4K

DT4K

Diamond Member
I'm trying to do some research on the funds available in my 401k plan.
When I look at these funds on yahoo finance, there are about 5 that are all called Hotchkis and Wiley Mid-Cap Value Fund. They all have very similar share prices and identical descriptions.

When I look at the fund description on my 401k manager's website, it doesn't give me a ticker symbol. All it has is the description, share prices, and performance figures. I'm trying to figure out which of these nearly identical funds my 401k offers.

Anyone know why the mutual fund companies have multiple versions of the same named fund and what the differences are?
 
But the fund descriptions are identical and the share prices of all 5 of these funds are between 22.50 and 23.50. If they are targeting different markets, I would expect there to be more variation in the prices.
 
Ticker symbol: HWMAX
Top 10 holdings
SEARS ROEBUCK S 4.51
ELECTR DATA EDS 4.04
J C PENNEY CO JCP 2.96
FIRSTENERGY FE 2.90
MANDALAY RESORT MBG 2.76
MI Developments N/A 2.74
CIT GROUP INC CIT 2.63
CSX CORP CSX 2.55
ALLMERICA FINL AFC 2.40
COMPUTER ASSOC CA 2.37


Ticker symbol: HWMBX
Top 10 holdings:
ELECTR DATA EDS 4.49
SEARS ROEBUCK S 4.19
J C PENNEY CO JCP 3.17
MANDALAY RESORT MBG 3.03
FIRSTENERGY FE 2.87
MI Developments N/A 2.56
CSX CORP CSX 2.53
CIT GROUP INC CIT 2.50
TENET HEALTHCR THC 2.28
VALASSIS COMM VCI 2.24

OK, slightly different percentages, but very very close.
 
Often a company has different versions of essentially the same fund for individual inverstors vs. 401k plans vs. institutional investors (such as a company's pension fund), sometimes another version for individuals willing to invest large amounts (over $50K).

You can find out more by googling to get to the fund company's website.
 
They're different share classes of a load fund, notice that the ticker symbols are the same except for the last character which is a A, B, C, or I, which indicate its class. Loaded funds typically have A class shares (upfront sales charge), B class shares (contigient deferred sales charge a.k.a. CDSC), C class shares (reduced front end load shares), and sometimes several institutional share classes (typically I or Z class). If you don't understand what a load is or what a share class is, then you shouldn't be investing in loaded funds. If you do understand what a load or share class is, then you still shouldn't be investing in loaded funds. If a broker tries to sell you loaded funds then you need to fire him as otherwise you're just pissing money away in trails (which are bribes the mutual fund company makes you pay to the broker to keep your money in their fund).
 
Thanks for the informative replies guys.
I was in the process of re-evaluating where my 401k money is going. This fund has a five star rating from Morningstar and has some really impressive returns. So I was tempted to put a sizable chunk of my 401k money in it.

When I look at HWMAX, it has values listed in the load adjusted returns section, but when I look at HWMIX, it shows "no load" in the load adjusted returns section.

I'm not positive, but I think HWMIX is the one I can buy through my 401k.
Any experts want to tell me if this is a good fund to buy or not?
It has very good 5 year returns.
 
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