NEW YORK, May 15, 2020 – AXS Investments, a leading alternative investment manager, today announced that its AXS Aspect Core Diversified Strategy Fund (EQAIX) was included by InvestmentNews in its recently published list of Top Equity Mutual Funds.

In a quarter marked by severe market disruption related to the COVID-19 pandemic, EQAIX continued to perform as designed and exhibited strong results not only among its alternative investment and managed futures peers, but also among all U.S. equity funds generally.

“We are thrilled that EQAIX is included among the U.S. mutual funds named by InvestmentNews — not just alternative investment funds, but all U.S. equity funds,” said Greg Bassuk, Chief Executive Officer of AXS Investments. “The fund represents a strong case study illustrating how certain liquid alternatives have been there for investors when they needed them most. EQAIX remains positioned very well to manage the market volatility and uncertainty ahead.”

The AXS Aspect Core Diversified Strategy Fund seeks capital appreciation through a proprietary systematic trend following strategy managed by Aspect Capital. One of its lead portfolio managers is Aspect Capital co-founder Martin Lueck, recipient of the prestigious 2019 Managed Futures Pinnacle Achievement Award recognizing his 30-year career as a leading pioneer of systematic investing. Presented by CME Group and BarclayHedge, nominees for the award were chosen based on quantitative data provided by BarclayHedge across a total of 23 award categories.

According to Mr. Lueck, “The fund was able to navigate periods like this by having exposure to lots of markets and opportunities in a very broad range of assets. With no directional bias, we can participate on the short side as easily as on the long, and therefore potentially profit in both bull and bear markets.”

Managed futures funds have a long track record of resilience during market downturns, including recessions. Many funds in the category, like the 4-star rated EQAIX, use quantitative models to identify price trends and invest long or short to buy and sell to profit from movements. Managed futures strategies have been shown to improve overall performance over traditional 60/40 portfolios during times of market stress.

In the Morningstar managed futures category, EQAIX (I-share) received an overall rating of 4 stars, a 3-year rating of 3 stars out of 86 funds, and a 5-year rating of 3 stars out of 72 funds, based on risk-adjusted returns as of 3/31/2020. EQAAX (A-share) and EQACX (C-share) both received an overall rating of 3 stars, a 3-year rating of 3 stars out of 86 funds, and a 5-year rating of 3 stars out of 72 funds.

About AXS Investments

AXS Investments is a leading alternative investment manager providing a diversified family of alternative investment funds for individual investors, financial advisors, family offices and others seeking alternative sources of growth, income and diversification. The firm empowers investors to diversify their portfolios with investments previously available only to the largest institutional and high net worth investors. The firm’s investor-friendly funds are time-tested, liquid and transparent, sub-advised by top institutional managers with long and strong track records. For more information, visit www.axsinvestments.com.

Ratings, rankings and awards should not be used as the sole basis for evaluating a fund. For the most recent performance, please click here.

About Morningstar Ratings

The Morningstar Rating™ for funds, or "star rating," is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product's monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The Morningstar Rating does not include any adjustment for sales loads. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics.

The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods. Morningstar Rating is for the I share classes; other classes may have different performance characteristics.

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Long is the buying of a security such as a stock, commodity or currency with the expectation that the asset will rise in value. Short is a sale that is completed by the delivery of a security borrowed by the seller. Short sellers assume they will be able to buy the stock at a lower amount than the price at which they sold short.