NEWS

2011 News

Lipper MarketPlace, December 31, 2011
"Best Money Managers"

The Stephens Mid Cap Growth Strategy was ranked as Top Performers by Lipper, as announced in the December 31, 2011 edition of Lipper MarketPlace's Best Money Managers.

The Stephens Mid Cap Growth Strategy was ranked 38th out of 272 products in the U.S. Mid-cap Equity category and 17th out of 105 products in the U.S. Mid-cap Growth category for the four quarter ending December 31, 2011.

The Stephens Mid Cap Growth Strategy was ranked 23rd out of 226 products in the U.S. Mid-cap Equity category and 15th out of 92 products in the U.S. Mid-cap Growth category for the twelve quarters ending December 31, 2011.

Criteria to be ranked include that the product's performance must be calculated in U.S. dollars, “net" of all fees and brokerage commissions, inclusive of all cash reserves, on an asset base which is at least $10 million in size, and that the classification of the product fall into one of the categories which they rank.


PSN Top Guns Performers, December 31, 2011
"Stephens Mid Cap Growth Separate Account Strategy Named 5 STAR TOP GUN"

The PSN universes were created using the information collected through the PSN investment manager questionnaire and use only gross of fee returns. Mutual fund and commingled fund products are not included in the universe. 5 STAR category products must have an R-Squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for a five year period ending December 31, 2011. Moreover, products must have returns greater than the style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods ending September 30, 2011. After that, PSN selects only the products which standard deviation for the five year period is equal or less than the median standard deviation for the peer group. The top ten performers for the latest three-year period become the TOP GUNS.


Lipper MarketPlace, September 30, 2011
"Best Money Managers"

The Stephens Small Cap Growth Strategy and the Stephens Mid Cap Growth Strategy were both ranked as Top Performers by Lipper, as announced in the September 30, 2011 edition of Lipper MarketPlace's Best Money Managers.

The Stephens Small Cap Growth Strategy was ranked 32nd out of 447 products in the U.S. Small-cap Equity category and 19th out of 148 products in the U.S. Small-cap Growth Equity category for the four quarters ending September 30, 2011.

The Stephens Mid Cap Growth Strategy was ranked 31st out of 279 products in the U.S. Mid-cap Equity category and 12th out of 111 products in the U.S. Mid-cap Growth category for the quarter ending September 30, 2011.

The Stephens Mid Cap Growth Strategy was ranked 25th out of 250 products in the U.S. Mid-cap Equity category and 18th out of 101 products in the U.S. Mid-cap Growth category for the four quarters ending September 30, 2011.

Criteria to be ranked include that the product's performance must be calculated in U.S. dollars, “net" of all fees and brokerage commissions, inclusive of all cash reserves, on an asset base which is at least $10 million in size, and that the classification of the product fall into one of the categories which they rank.


PSN Top Guns Performers, September 30, 2011
"Stephens Small-Mid Cap Growth Separate Account Strategy Named 1, 5 and 6 STAR TOP GUN"

The PSN universes were created using the information collected through the PSN investment manager questionnaire and use only gross of fee returns. Mutual fund and commingled fund products are not included in the universe. 1 STAR category top performers are strictly based on quarterly returns. 5 STAR category products must have an R-Squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for a five year period ending September 30, 2011. Moreover, products must have returns greater than the style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods ending September 30, 2011. After that, PSN selects only the products which standard deviation for the five year period is equal or less than the median standard deviation for the peer group. The top ten performers for the latest three-year period become the TOP GUNS. 6 STAR category products must have an R-Squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for a five year period ending September 30, 2011. Moreover, products must have returns greater than the style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods ending September 30, 2011. After that, PSN selects only the products which standard deviation for the five year period is equal or less than the median standard deviation for the peer group. The top ten information ratios for the latest five-year period become the TOP GUNS.

"Stephens Mid Cap Growth Separate Account Strategy Named 6 STAR TOP GUN"

The PSN universes were created using the information collected through the PSN investment manager questionnaire and use only gross of fee returns. Mutual fund and commingled fund products are not included in the universe. 6 STAR category products must have an R-Squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for a five year period ending September 30, 2011. Moreover, products must have returns greater than the style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods ending September 30, 2011. After that, PSN selects only the products which standard deviation for the five year period is equal or less than the median standard deviation for the peer group. The top ten information ratios for the latest five-year period become the TOP GUNS.


Lipper MarketPlace, June 30, 2011
"Best Money Managers"

The Stephens Small Cap Growth Strategy and the Stephens SMID Cap Growth Strategy were both ranked as Top Performers by Lipper, as announced in the June 30, 2011 edition of Lipper MarketPlace's Best Money Managers. The Stephens Small Cap Growth Strategy was ranked 14th out of 171 products in the U.S. Small Cap Growth Equity Category and 34th out of 505 products in the U.S. Small Cap Equity Category. The Stephens SMID Growth Strategy was ranked 14th out of 43 products in the U.S. SMID-cap Growth Equity Category. Criteria to be ranked include that the product's performance must be calculated in U.S. dollars, “net" of all fees and brokerage commissions, inclusive of all cash reserves, on an asset base which is at least $10 million in size, and that the classification of the product fall into one of the categories which they rank.


Emerging Manager Monthly, February 2011 Edition
"5th Annual Emerging Manager Awards"

Emerging Manager Monthly, in association with eVestment Alliance, announced that the Stephens Mid Cap Growth Strategy was selected as a finalist among the nominees in the mid-cap category for the 5th Annual Emerging Manager Awards. Nominees in seven categories (large-cap equity, small-cap equity, small- to mid-cap equity, mid-cap equity, all-cap equity, international equity and cored fixed-income) were ranked based on the following criterion: excess returns over benchmark, performance versus peers, product asset growth, product asset percentage growth and standard deviation. Overall, over 381 products were considered. To be eligible for the awards, managers must have submitted year-end 2010 data to eVestment Alliance by January 21, 2011, have less than $2 billion in assets under management and have full-year 2010 performance figures.