MEMPHIS, Tenn. (August 25, 2009) — The Focus List of Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc., had the highest returns among the recommended stock lists of 13 leading national and regional brokerage firms with a 15.27% return for the five years ended June 30, 2009, according to Zacks Investment Research, Inc.
In an article published August 24 in Barron's titled “The Bull Resurfaces Just in Time,” Zacks reported the 15.27% return posted by Morgan Keegan's Focus List substantially outperformed the recommended lists of Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Edward Jones and Raymond James, as well as the Standard & Poor's 500 Composite, for the five-year period.
In addition, Morgan Keegan’s Focus List performance ranked fourth with a gain of 16.93% for the first half of 2009, fifth among this group with a 24.17% loss in the one-year category and eighth with a 26.06% loss in the three-year category. According to Zacks Investment Research, Morgan Keegan’s Focus List posted a 32.24% return since Zacks began tracking Morgan Keegan’s Focus List performance at the beginning of 2004.
“Once again, our Focus List has benefitted from the quality research of our equity analysts and our traditional concentration on small- and mid-cap stocks,” said Elkan Scheidt, chairman of Morgan Keegan’s Focus Group and director of the firm’s equity research department. “This solid five-year performance is also attributable to the consistent approach of our Focus Committee in evaluating stocks for long-term gain. Our position atop the longest range category of these rankings reflects our analysts’ dedication to the long-term investment success of our clients.”
In 1988, Morgan Keegan created the Focus Group to make the firm's equity research more accessible for the individual investor through the firm’s Focus List of recommended stocks. The Focus Group includes representatives from the firm’s equity research department, equity strategy group, equity institutional sales department and private client group. To create the Focus List, the Group selects stocks that they believe have the best potential from the firm's coverage universe.
Zacks Investment Research, Inc., an independent research source for Barron's, tracks the stock recommendations of 13 major brokerage firms. The Zacks survey is intended to give investors an indication of how their portfolio would perform if investment professionals selected their stocks. Calculations for the survey take into account gains or losses, dividends and theoretical commissions of 1% on each trade. If a Barron’s survey participant informs Zacks of a change to the focus list before 12:00 noon CT, the change is effective on the same day, otherwise it is accounted for on the next day. The prices used are the official exchange closing prices. Monthly returns are then linked geometrically to produce quarterly and annual total return performance figures. Zacks calculates the time-weighted monthly performance of focus lists on an equal-weighted basis.
About Morgan Keegan & Company Inc.
Morgan Keegan & Company Inc., one of the nation’s largest regional full-service brokerage and investment banking firms, is the securities brokerage arm of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF). Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., Morgan Keegan serves individual and institutional investors in over 300 offices in 19 states. Additional information about Morgan Keegan and Regions – a member of the S&P 100 Index– can be found at www.morgankeegan.com and www.regions.com.
Contact:
Eric Bran
Morgan Keegan & Co.
901.524.4114
