Morgan Keegan's Focus List Leads Competitors

Published on Monday, 02 August 2010 17:30 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

MEMPHIS, Tenn.-( Business Wire )-

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 19.55% return for the five years ended June 30, 2010, according to Zacks Investment Research, Inc. This is the fourth consecutive time that Morgan Keegan’s Focus List has ranked #1 for the five-year period.

In an article published July 31, 2010, in Barron's titled “Finding Good Stocks in Bad Markets,” Zacks reported the 19.55% return posted by Morgan Keegan's Focus List substantially outperformed the recommended lists of Goldman Sachs, Edward Jones, Raymond James and Wells Fargo, as well as the Standard & Poor's 500 Composite’s 3.91% loss for the five-year period. Barron’s also notes that, “For as long as it has qualified, through bull and bear markets, this brokerage hasn’t been dislodged from the five-year top post.”

In addition, Morgan Keegan’s Focus List performance ranked fourth with a 3.82% loss for the first half of 2010, compared to a 6.65% loss for the S&P 500. The firm’s 19.45% gain in the one-year category ranked fifth among the brokerages and compared to a 14.43% gain for the S&P 500. In the three-year category, Morgan Keegan ranked fourth with a 25.24% loss versus a 26.65% loss for the S&P 500. According to Zacks Investment Research, Morgan Keegan’s Focus List posted a 57.96% return since Zacks began tracking Morgan Keegan’s Focus List performance at the beginning of 2004.

“Clearly, our long-term success can’t be ascribed to any particular stocks, but rather to consistency of process and being in the right sectors at the right time,” said Elkan Scheidt, chairman of Morgan Keegan’s Focus Group and director of the firm’s equity research department. “Our firm has been and will continue to be squarely focused on the long-term investment success of our clients. Our equity analysts’ talent in identifying sectors and stocks that have great potential, coupled with the Focus Group’s disciplined decision-making process, has led to outstanding results for our clients over time.”

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.

About Zacks Investment Research, Inc.

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 can be found at www.morgankeegan.com.

About Regions

Regions Financial Corporation, with $135 billion in assets, is a member of the S&P 100 Index and one of the nation's largest full-service providers of consumer and commercial banking, trust, securities brokerage, mortgage and insurance products and services. Regions serves customers in 16 states across the South, Midwest and Texas, and through its subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates approximately 1,800 banking offices and 2,200 ATMs. Additional information about Regions and its full line of products and services can be found at www.regions.com.

Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc.Kathy Ridley, 901-529-5449Kathy.ridley@morgankeegan.comorGail Rimer, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.