The Amana Mutual Funds Trust is regularly featutes press releases. This page features highlighred in the news media and often contributs from recent years.
News & Awards
Nov. 1, 2011 — Investment Advisor / Advisor One — Profiting from Morality: "For people who are looking for value, including non-Muslims, allocating a portion of their assets to vehicles like Saturna Capital's Amana Funds makes for a good bet . . . . According to Nicholas Kaiser, director and chairman of Saturna Capital, the Amana Funds' success has come primarily from advisors and clients who are not Muslim."
Oct. 12, 2011 — The Motley Fool — ETFs Can Kick You to the Curb: "The Amana Trust Growth (AMAGX) fund, for example, has trounced both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average over the past 10 years. Part of the reason for the fund's success is its attention to Sharia law, which frowns not only on the usual not-sosocially responsible suspects such as tobacco companies, but also on alcohol companies, gambling companies, and even financial companies and others that deal heavily with interest."
Sep. 19, 2011 — U.S. News — 20 Funds That Can Weather Downturns: "On the domestic equities side, large-cap funds reigned supreme in terms of downside protection because managers of these funds generally invest in some of the largest and most established multinational companies based in the United States. Amana Trust Income (AMANX) . . . are both considered socially responsible funds, meaning they are restricted to only investing in stocks of companies that meet certain ethical or religious standards."
Sep. 2, 2011 — Morningstar — Amana Trust Growth AMAGX: "That low turnover means that the fund will sometimes be out of sync with the market in the short term, and that's what has happened recently. The lack of financials and highly leveraged companies was a big advantage in 2008 but held the fund back in the risk-led rally of 2009 and 2010, when those stocks were among the best performers."
Sep. 1, 2011 — Morningstar Analyst Report — Amana Growth Fund (AMAGX)
Aug. 31, 2011 — Morningstar — Amana Trust Income AMANX: "The fund's outstanding long-term results are especially remarkable given that it's managed in accordance with Islamic law and thus subject to significant restrictions. Kaiser can't hold stocks that get more than 5% of their revenue from alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pork, or pornography, among other things."
Aug. 31, 2011 — Morningstar Analyst Report — Amana Income Fund (AMANX)
Aug. 25, 2011 — Elan The Magazine — Decoding the Islamic Financing Boom: "[Monem Salam ] said the funds use a 'buy-hold' philosophy, meaning they don't constantly buy and sell, per the idea that gambling is not allowed in Islam."
Aug. 24, 2011 — The Motley Fool — The Year's Hottest Investments: Large-Cap Edition: "This
means financials are off-limits to the funds, which helped them avoid the worst of 2008's downturn.
So a big part of these funds' outperformance in relation to the market over the past decade was a
result of this positioning. But even without 2008 in the mix, management has a solid track record of
good stock picking. Extraordinarily low turnover and low initial investment minimums make these
funds appropriate for a wide range of investors, even those who aren't seeking to invest in
accordance with Islamic principles."
Jul. 21, 2011 — The Street — Low Volatility Funds Prove Resilient: "Another low-volatility fund that shined during the erratic markets of recent years is Amana Trust Income (AMANX). Portfolio manager Nick Kaiser likes high-quality dividend-paying stocks ... . When markets look threatening, Kaiser can hold cash. During 2008, he kept as much as 30% of assets in cash. That enabled him to outdo 99% of his large blend peers for the year."
Jul. 1, 2011 — Investment Advisor / Advisor One — A Flight to Quality: "For investors like Nick Kaiser, Saturna Capital's chief investment officer, ethics and governance are also top priorities. Emerging markets are overvalued, Kaiser says, because they do present perhaps the sole growth opportunity currently available."
Jun. 29, 2011 — Morningstar — Socially Conscious Funds That Do More: "But managers Nick Kaiser and Monem Salam have managed to generate topnotch results even while working within those strictures as a result of their well-honed focus on companies with competitive advantages. Moreover, some of the fund's religious screens have helped boost performance."
Jun. 27, 2011 — Bloomberg Markets — Shariah Stock Picking: "After weeding out companies that don't meet Shariah tests, Kaiser whittles the list further using value-based metrics such as earnings momentum, price-to-book value and dividend growth."
Jun. 22, 2011 — The Edge Malaysia — Islamic Banking & Finance: Demystifying Islamic fund management: "Empirical evidence suggests Islamic funds are as competitive as their conventional counterparts. Saturna's Amana Income Fund significantly outperformed its benchmark in 2008 when the market was going down quite rapidly."
Jun. 14, 2011 — Morningstar — Top 10 Dividend-Yielding Stocks of Our Top Managers: "Also worth noting it's the fact that the four fund managers in our Investment Manager Roster that specialize in generating income for their investors — Amana Trust Income (AMANX) . . . were either beating or very close to beating the S&P 500 at the end of last week.
Jun. 14, 2011 — Money Morning — Socially Responsible Investing: Four Ways to Profit as You Help Clean up Wall Street: "In contrast to other religiously oriented funds, the Amana [Income] Trust's performance has been in line with unrestricted income funds lately and that makes it worth your consideration no matter what your beliefs. The fund maintains a list of 'excluded assets,' including financial companies, pornography, gambling and pork producers."
May 25, 2011 — National Journal — A (Uni)Vision For Life After A Mass Market: "And Amana Mutual Funds, which invests according to Islamic principles, has drawn an increasing number of clients, only a fifth of them Muslim American. The rest are attracted in the recession's wake by Amana's less-risky financial products, deputy portfolio manager Monem Salam explained."
May 19, 2011 — CBS Money Watch —Mutual Funds: 7 tips for making a graduation gift: "Here are four options that get a top-rung 5-star rating from Morningstar, and have modest investing minimums as well as other features that could make them suitable for gifts: Amana Trust Growth (AMAGX) . . ."
May 18, 2011 — Morningstar — A Young Retiree's Portfolio Grows Up: "Rather than opting for a portfolio of funds run by household-name firms (though there's not necessarily anything wrong with that), her holdings largely consist of mutual funds overseen by topnotch boutique investment managers such as . . . and Amana."
May 1, 2011 — Mutual Fund Observer — Amana Developing World Fund (AMDWX) — May 2011: "Mr. Kaiser's outstanding record of generating high returns with low risk, across a whole spectrum of investments, is complemented by AMDWX's unique attributes."
Apr. 23, 2011 — Kiplinger's Personal Finance The 7 Top funds for ethical investing: "Following Islamic tenets, Amana Income (symbol AMANX) and Amana Growth (AMAGX) are not just top performers among religious funds; they also stack up with the best in their categories, socially oriented or not."
Mar. 9, 2011 — Morningstar — Four New Ultimate Stock-Pickers Outperforming in 2011: "While running a slightly larger portfolio, Nick Kaiser has had even lower turnover in his fund, which is not only a byproduct of Amana Trust Growth's (AMAGX) commitment to a disciplined research process but a strict adherence to its investment mandate — to limit the amount of short-term buying and selling that can be done by the fund."
Jan. 27, 2011 — Investment Advisor / Advisor One — American Muslims Offer a Great Opportunity for Advisors, quoting : "The American Muslim community is very educated and very affluent, and they are looking for investment solutions," Salam says. "Many times, they do not know that they can use an advisor to find these solutions. Advisors need to make an effort to not only try and better understand their existing Muslim clientele, but to also look into this market if they don't really have any Muslim clients on their roster."
Jan. 25, 2011 — Bloomberg — Nielsen's IPO a harbinger for companies with debt: "Nick Kaiser, chairman of investment management firm Saturna Capital, said his firm typically steers clear of debt-ridden companies when investing his clients' mutual funds and 401Ks."
Jan. 14, 2011 — The Wall Street Journal — Socially Responsible Funds Take on Emerging Markets: "Amana Developing World Fund, which invests according to Islamic principles . . . set up an office in Malaysia in order to do its own on-the-ground research on Asian companies. Salam said this level of research is crucial to make sure a company matches the fund's values, especially when dealing with murky corporate governance and incomplete financial disclosure in emerging-market companies."
Oct. 29, 2010: Value Investor Insight — Investor Insight: Nicholas Kaiser
Feb./Mar. 2009: Morningstar Advisor — "Heavenly Returns" by David Kathman
Jun. 2008: Barron's — "Keeping the Faith" by Eric Uhlfelder
May 2008: Whatcom Business Magazine — "Leading with discipline" by Sam Taylor
Jan. 2008: Northwest Business Monthly — "Taking stock of Nicholas Kaiser" by Sara L. Geballe
Nov. 19, 2007: The Wall Street Journal — "Why a Fund's Piety Is Now Paying Off" by Carolyn Cui
Sep. 2007: Investment Advisor — "Principled Performance" by Kathleen M. McBride"The Path of the Profit" by Nicole Bullock
Nov. 1, 2006: Amana Funds Double in Size, Continue To Post Top Returns