Barron’s names Praxis Growth Index Fund and Value Index Fund to Top-Performing Sustainable Funds List

Praxis in the news |

Both funds got above-average Morningstar Sustainability Rating

Praxis Mutual Funds® announced two of its funds were named to a list of top-performing sustainable funds by Barron’s. Praxis’ Growth Index Fund (MMDEX) and Value Index Fund (MVIAX) were highlighted in the Barron’s feature, by Leslie Norton.

The rankings are especially significant in a tumultuous time marked by market volatility, a health pandemic, and social unrest. Barron’s selected the top U.S. large-company, actively and passively managed stock funds and ETFs that received above-average sustainable rankings from Morningstar.

Benjamin Bailey, CFA, Vice President of Investments, Co-portfolio Manager of Praxis Impact Bond Fund | Praxis Mutual Funds
Said Praxis Mutual Funds Vice President of Investments and Senior Fixed Income Investment Manager Benjamin Bailey, CFA®, “At Praxis, we believe it is important to deliver social and environmental impact, in as many forms as possible, along with consistent, competitive investment returns. We are pleased to have been ranked among top sustainable funds as a demonstration of our commitment to this objective.” The Barron’s list also noted that both the Praxis Growth Index Fund and the Praxis Value Index Fund received an above-average Morningstar Sustainability Rating.

Mark Regier, Vice President of Stewardship Investing | Praxis Mutual Funds
“These rankings stand as a testament to how we integrate faith, sustainability, and investing,” said Praxis Vice President of Stewardship Investing Mark Regier. “Particularly in these difficult times, it is our shared values and vision that provide the inspiration for our work.”

The full list of Barron’s Top-Performing Sustainable Funds Rankings can be found on the Barron’s website. To learn more about Praxis Index Funds, visit here Praxis Growth Index Fund (MMDEX) and Praxis Value Index Fund (MVIAX).

About Praxis Mutual Funds
Founded in 1994, Praxis Mutual Funds is a leading faith-based, socially responsible family of mutual funds designed to help people and groups integrate their finances with their values. Praxis is the mutual fund family of Everence Financial, a comprehensive faith-based financial services organization helping individuals, organizations and congregations.

How we invest

We believe you can make a positive difference when your investment decisions are motivated by your faith and values. We call this stewardship investing, our unique approach to socially responsible investing, that seeks to hold companies accountable and invest in a better world.

 

Disclosure

The Morningstar Sustainability Rating™ is intended to measure how well the issuing companies of the securities within a fund’s portfolio holdings are managing their financially material environmental, social and governance, or ESG, risks relative to the fund’s Morningstar Global Category peers. The Morningstar Sustainability Rating calculation is a five -step process. First, each fund with at least 67% of assets covered by a company-level ESG Risk Score from Sustainalytics receives a Morningstar Portfolio Sustainability Score. The Morningstar Portfolio Sustainability Score is an asset-weighted average of company-level ESG Risk Scores. The Portfolio Sustainability Score ranges between 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating that a fund has, on average, more of its assets invested in companies with high ESG Risk. Second, the Historical Sustainability Score is an exponential weighted moving average of the Portfolio Sustainability Scores over the past 12 months. The process rescales the current Portfolio Sustainability Score to reflect the consistency of the scores. The Historical Sustainability Score ranges between 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating that a fund has, on average, more of its assets invested in companies with high ESG Risk, on a consistent historical basis. Third, the Morningstar Sustainability Rating is then assigned to all scored funds within Morningstar Global Categories in which at least thirty (30) funds receive a Historical Sustainability Score and is determined by each fund’s Morningstar Sustainability Rating Score rank within the following distribution: High (highest 10%), Above Average (next 22.5%), Average (next 35%), Below Average (next 22.5%), and Low (lowest 10%). Fourth, then Morningstar applies a 1% rating buffer from the previous month to increase rating stability. This means a fund must move 1% beyond the rating breakpoint to change ratings. Fifth, they adjust downward positive Sustainability Ratings to funds with high ESG Risk scores. The logic is as follows: If Portfolio Sustainability score is above 40, then the fund receives a Low Sustainability Rating. If Portfolio Sustainability score is above 35 and preliminary rating is Average or better, then the fund is downgraded to Below Average. If the Portfolio Sustainability score is above 30 and preliminary rating is Above Average, then the fund is downgraded to Average. If the Portfolio Sustainability score is below 30, then no adjustment is made. Since a Sustainability Rating is assigned to all funds that meet the above criteria, the rating it is not limited to funds with explicit sustainable or responsible investment mandates. Morningstar updates its Sustainability Ratings monthly. The Portfolio Sustainability Score is calculated when Morningstar receives a new portfolio. Then, the Historical Sustainability Score and the Sustainability Rating is calculated one month and six business days after the reported as-of date of the most recent portfolio. As part of the evaluation process, Morningstar uses Sustainalytics’ ESG scores from the same month as the portfolio as-of date. Please go to http://corporate1.morningstar.com/SustainableInvesting/ for more detailed information about the Morningstar Sustainability Rating methodology and calculation frequency. Sustainalytics is an independent ESG and corporate governance research, ratings, and analysis firm. Morningstar, Inc. holds a noncontrolling ownership interest in Sustainalytics.

Praxis Growth Index Fund, Globe Rating is 4, there are 1461 funds, it is in the US Equity Large Cap Growth category, Jan. 31, 2021, see below for rating criteria.

Praxis Value Index Fund, Globe Rating is 4, there are 1476 funds, it is in the US Equity Large Cap Value category, Jan. 31, 2021, see below for rating criteria.

The Morningstar Sustainability Rating is depicted by globe icons where High equals 5 globes and Low equals 1 globe. Since a Sustainability Rating is assigned to all funds that meet the above criteria, the rating it is not limited to funds with explicit sustainable or responsible investment mandates.

Opinions expressed are those of the author or Funds and are subject to change, are not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results, nor investment advice. References to other mutual funds should not be considered an offer to buy or sell these securities.

The S&P 500 or Standard & Poor's 500 Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of the 500 largest U.S. publicly traded companies. It is not possible to invest in an index.