Bob Doll to Co-Manage 5 New Crossmark Mutual Funds

The New Funds

The Steward Equity Market Neutral Fund is focused on absolute return and can take long and short positions in stocks. The other four funds focus on long equity positions in stocks but can include real estate investment trusts. All five of the new funds are benchmarked to the relevant Russell Index — Russell 1000 indexes for the large-cap funds and the Russell 2000 for the small-cap fund.

All five funds also use exclusionary screens to avoid or limit allocations to stocks of companies involved in the alcohol, recreational drug, tobacco and adult entertainment industries. Also excluded are the stocks of companies directly involved in providing abortions or the production of drugs used to terminate pregnancies. Companies directly involved in stem cell research using human embryo tissues are also excluded.

"With our unique exclusionary and inclusionary screening processes, these strategies are held to a high ethical standard, and will allow our clients to match their investments with their values," said Lium in a statement.

Operating expenses for the funds range from 0.65% for retirement accounts (R6 shares of all three large-cap funds) to 2.55% for C shares of for all but the small-cap fund, whose fees range from 0.9% to 2.55%. A shares of all the funds carry a 5.75% load.

With the new additions, Crossmark now offers 11 Steward mutual funds that span equity and fixed income sectors and use the firm's values-based screens to align investments with investors' values.