Not everyone is sold on environmentalism, but it's hard to argue with the returns of some mutual funds that invest in "green" companies. The recent performance of the Allianz RCM Global EcoTrends Fund (AECOX) should convert skeptics faster than a code-red air-quality alert.
The $131 million fund has appeared in the top 10% of stock funds for several months this year. It advanced 28.13% in the six months through August, smartly outperforming the 5.71% total return of the S&P 500 over the same period.
Even more impressive, the fund turned in a very respectable 4.26% return for the three months ended Aug. 31, compared with a 3.28% decline in the S&P 500.
Since inception in January of this year, it is up 19.3%.
Global EcoTrends isn't the only "green" fund generating attractive returns, but it is more diversified than most of its cohorts...MORE
