NAPERVILLE, Ill., April 26, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- John P. Calamos, President and Chief Investment Officer of CALAMOS ASSET MANAGEMENT, INC., has announced that every fund in the CALAMOS Family of Funds rated by Morningstar has been awarded five stars for the three-year period ended March 31, 2001. A five-star rating is awarded only to the top 10% of funds within each category.
This is particularly significant for the CALAMOS Funds, since four of the five rated funds are compared to a universe of more than 4,000 domestic equity funds. This universe is far larger than the peer group for three of the domestic CALAMOS funds (the Convertible, Convertible Growth and Income and Market Neutral Funds), which are concentrated in a unique asset class, convertible bonds. Convertibles offer the potential to cushion downside risk like corporate bonds, yet they also have the potential to participate in the possible upside of the underlying stock into which they can be converted.
Commenting on Morningstar's recognition of the Funds, Calamos said, "The markets have been exceptionally volatile recently, and we believe our investment process has adapted well to continuous change. Morningstar's rating formulas acknowledge both risk and return over extended periods of time. We believe they help demonstrate how CALAMOS' varied investment strategies can be effective in diverse market environments."
CALAMOS ASSET MANAGEMENT has specialized in money management for more than two decades, developing a rigorous four-step investment discipline -- assessment of credit worthiness, company growth prospects, risk/reward, and security fit within the overall portfolio. The firm applies all four steps to four of the Funds -- the Convertible Growth and Income Fund, the Global Convertible Fund, the Convertible Fund and the Convertible Technology Fund, which employ convertibles to construct portfolios with varying risk/return profiles. In addition, CALAMOS offers Growth, High Yield, and Market Neutral Funds, which apply selected steps of the proprietary quantitative models as appropriate to growth equity, high-yield bond and convertible stock hedging strategies respectively.
Morningstar Ratings
As of 3/31/01
FUNDNAME Overall 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year
Rating
Calamos Convertible A* 4 5 4 4
Calamos Convertible
Growth & Income A* 5 5 5 5
Calamos Global
Convertible A** 5 5 N/A N/A
Calamos Growth A* 5 5 5 5
Calamos Market Neutral A* 4 5 4 3
* Out of 4,298, 4,298, 2,653 and 839 domestic equity funds respectively
**Out of 1,292 international equity funds
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
About CALAMOS ASSET MANAGEMENT, INC.
CALAMOS ASSET MANAGEMENT, INC. is an independent asset management firm specializing in convertible bond research and management. Headquartered in Naperville, Illinois, CALAMOS provides professional money management services to clients that include major corporations, public and private institutions, pension funds, insurance companies and individuals. The firm has experience in convertible bonds since 1977 and currently manages approximately $6.5 billion in assets. The firm also is investment advisor to a family of seven mutual funds.
For a prospectus containing more information including fees and expenses, call CALAMOS FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC., the Funds' distributor, at 1-800-582-6959. Please read it carefully before investing.
Market Neutral Fund: The Fund engages in short sales of its convertible securities' underlying common stock, which has the potential to increase risk. Global Convertible Fund: The Fund may invest up to 100% of its assets in the securities of foreign issuers. Investing outside the U.S. offers both risks and rewards. Increased volatility, changes in the value of foreign currencies, and difficulty in obtaining information are some of the risks involved. Growth Fund: Investments by the CALAMOS Growth Fund in smaller companies present greater risks than investments in larger companies.
Morningstar as of 3/31/01: Ratings are for Class A shares. Morningstar proprietary ratings on U.S.-domiciled funds reflect historical risk-adjusted performance and are subject to change every month. Ratings are calculated from a Fund's 3-, 5-, and 10-year average annual returns in excess of 90-day T-bill returns with appropriate fee adjustments and a risk factor that reflects fund performance below 90-day T-bill returns. The Overall Morningstar Rating(tm) is a weighted average based on the 3, 5 and 10 year risk-adjusted performance. The top 10% of funds in an investment category receive five stars, the next 22.5% receive four stars, the next 35% receive three stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. Ratings reflect the effect of sales charges. The funds were rated exclusively against U.S.-domiciled funds.