Altegris Advisors Launches Equity Long Short Fund

LA JOLLA, Calif., May 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Altegris Advisors (www.altegris.com) is pleased to announce the launch of the Altegris Equity Long Short Fund (Ticker: ELSAX). This Fund aims to generate and capture alpha on the long and short side of the equity markets, predominantly US stocks. As a strategy, long/short equity has historically withstood a number of major market scenarios, which may be attributed to its typically flexible nature.

In fact since 1990, long/short equity represented by HFRI Equity Hedge Total Index gained 1,339%, while US stocks represented by S&P 500 Total Return Index gained 469%. It is important to note that past performance is not indicative of future results.  The referenced indices are for general market comparisons and are not meant to represent the Fund which is new and has no performance history. Of course, there is no guarantee that any investment will achieve its objectives, generate profits or avoid losses.

"We believe many long/short funds are managed by long-only managers who've only recently started shorting," said Jon Sundt, President and CEO of Altegris and Co-Portfolio Manager of the Altegris Family of Mutual Funds. "We were methodical in our preparation for launching this Fund.  We launched this Fund only after we had identified and selected what in our opinion are best of breed managers with verifiable long and short strategy track records. The managers employed by the Altegris Equity Long Short Fund have experience short selling selected stocks, as opposed to simply hedging via broad market indices." This approach is consistent with the Altegris mission of searching the world to identify the best alternative managers and deliver them to our professional and individual investors.

The Fund seeks to achieve long-term capital appreciation with less volatility and moderate correlation to major equity market indices. The Altegris Equity Long Short Fund is designed to profit by investing in the securities of companies believed to be undervalued or which may offer high growth opportunities while at the same time selling short the securities of companies believed to be overvalued or which are expected to experience declining growth.

Key features of the Fund include:

• Access to what Altegris Advisors believes are premier long/short managers with strategies that emphasize stock selection capabilities and market exposure management;
• Proprietary equity long/short investment sub-strategies including diversified, financials and small cap stock sectors;
• Actively managed, dynamic portfolio -- not a passive index fund;
• Daily liquidity;
• Low minimum investment;
• 1099 tax reporting;
• Individual (Class A), Institutional (Class I), and Advisor (Class N) share classes: ELSAX, ELSIX, and ELSNX.

"The new Fund seeks to meet the growing demand for accessible and trusted alternative investments by leveraging our history in alternative investments," said Mr. Sundt. "We look forward to continuing to deliver innovative solutions with a singular, uncompromising focus on alternatives. We are excited to offer this new Fund at this time and believe it adds a new dimension to our family of mutual funds including the Altegris Managed Futures Strategy Fund (MFTAX), Macro Strategy Fund (MCRAX) and the Futures Evolution Strategy Fund (EVOAX)."

Please contact Jami Schlicher at (973) 850-7309 or [email protected] or Andrea Trachtenberg at (800) 828-5225 or [email protected] for more information.

About Altegris Advisors

Altegris searches the world to find what we believe are the best alternative investments. Our suite of private funds, actively managed mutual funds and futures managed accounts provides an efficient solution for financial professionals and individuals seeking to improve portfolio diversification.

With one of the leading Research and Investment groups focused solely on alternatives, Altegris follows a disciplined process for identifying, evaluating, selecting and monitoring investment talent across a spectrum of alternative strategies including managed futures, global macro, long/short equity, event-driven and others.

As veteran experts in the art and science of alternatives, Altegris guides investors through the complex and often opaque universe of alternative investing.

Alternatives are in our DNA. Our very name, Altegris, highlights our singular focus on alternatives, the highest standards of integrity, and a process that constantly seeks to minimize investor risk while maximizing potential returns.

The Altegris Companies -- wholly owned subsidiaries of Genworth Financial, Inc. and affiliated with Genworth Financial Wealth Management, Inc. -- include Altegris Investments, Altegris Advisors, Altegris Funds, and Altegris Clearing Solutions. As of March 31, 2012 Altegris had approximately $3.27 billion in client assets, and provided clearing services to $997 million in institutional client assets.

Altegris Advisors LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser that advises alternative strategy mutual funds that may pursue investment returns through a combination of managed futures, equities, fixed income and/or other investment strategies.

Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund or Funds described herein. This and other important information about a Fund is contained in a Fund's Prospectus, which can be obtained by calling (888) 524-9441. The Prospectus should be read carefully before investing. Funds are distributed by Northern Lights Distributors, LLC member FINRA. Altegris Advisors and Northern Lights Distributors are not affiliated.

Short: selling an asset/security that may have been borrowed from a third party with the intention of buying back at a later date. Short positions profit from a decline in price. If a short position increases in price, covering the short position at a higher price may result in a loss.

Long: buying an asset/security that gives partial ownership to the buyer of the position. Long positions profit from an increase in price.

Alpha: measures the non-systematic return, that which cannot be attributed to the market. It shows the difference between a fund's actual return and its expected return, given its level of systematic (or market) risk (as measured by beta). A positive alpha indicates that the fund has performed better than its beta would predict. Alpha is widely viewed as a measure of the value added or lost by a fund manager.

MUTUAL FUNDS INVOLVE RISK INCLUDING POSSIBLE LOSS OF PRINCIPAL.

As with all mutual funds, there is the risk that you could lose money through your investment in the Fund.  The Fund is not intended to be a complete investment program.  Many factors affect the Fund's net asset value and performance.

There can be no guarantee that adequate capital will be raised in a timely fashion in order to achieve the Fund's investment objectives.

The use of futures and options involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities including leverage risk and tracking risk.  Long options positions may expire worthless.

Foreign investing involves risks not typically associated with U.S. investments, including adverse fluctuations in foreign currency values, adverse political, social and economic developments, less liquidity, greater volatility, less developed or less efficient trading markets, political instability and differing auditing and legal standards.  Investing in emerging markets imposes risks different from, or greater than, risks of investing in foreign developed countries.

Lower-quality convertible debt securities, known as "high yield" or "junk" bonds, present greater risk than bonds of higher quality, including an increased risk of default.  An economic downturn or period of rising interest rates could adversely affect the market for these bonds and reduce the Fund's ability to sell its bonds.  The lack of a liquid market for these bonds could decrease the Fund's share price.

The value of a specific security can be more volatile than the market as a whole and can perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

The use of leverage by the Fund, such as borrowing money to purchase securities or the use of options, will cause the Fund to incur additional expenses and magnify the Fund's gains or loss. The adviser's judgments about the investment expertise of each sub-adviser may prove to be inaccurate and may not produce the desired results.  Each sub-adviser's judgments about the attractiveness, value and potential appreciation or depreciation of a particular security in which the Fund invests or sells short may prove to be inaccurate and may not produce the desired results. 

Overall securities market risks may affect the value of individual instruments in which the Fund invests.  Factors such as domestic and foreign economic growth and market conditions, interest rate levels, and political events affect the securities and derivatives markets.  When the value of the Fund's investments goes down, your investment in the Fund decreases in value and you could lose money.

As a non-diversified fund, the Fund may invest more than 5% of its total assets in the securities of one or more issuers.  The Fund's performance may be more sensitive to any single economic, business, political or regulatory occurrence than the value of shares of a diversified investment company.

Typically, a rise in interest rates causes a decline in the value of preferred stock. Preferred stocks are also subject to credit and default risk, which is the possibility that an issuer of preferred stock will fail to make its dividend payments.

The Fund will engage in short selling and short position derivative activities, which are significantly different from the investment activities commonly associated with conservative stock funds.  Positions in shorted securities and derivatives are speculative and more risky than "long" positions (purchases) because the cost of the replacement security or derivative is unknown.  Therefore, the potential loss on an uncovered short is unlimited, whereas the potential loss on long positions is limited to the original purchase price.  You should be aware that any strategy that includes selling securities short could suffer significant losses.  Shorting will also result in higher transaction costs (such as interest and dividends), which reduce the Fund's return, and may result in higher taxes.

Small and mid-sized companies may have limited product lines, markets or financial resources, and they may be dependent on a limited management group.  Equities of smaller companies may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than those of larger, more established companies or the market averages in general.

A higher portfolio turnover may result in higher transactional and brokerage costs.

Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW) is a leading Fortune 500 insurance holding company dedicated to helping people secure their financial lives, families and futures.  Genworth has leadership positions in offerings that assist consumers in protecting themselves, investing for the future and planning for retirement -- including life insurance, long term care insurance, financial protection coverages, and independent advisor-based wealth management -- and mortgage insurance that helps consumers achieve home ownership while assisting lenders in managing their risk and capital.

Genworth has approximately 6,400 employees and operates through three divisions: Insurance and Wealth Management, which includes U.S. Life Insurance, Wealth Management, and International Protection segments; Mortgage Insurance, which includes U.S. and International Mortgage Insurance segments; and the Corporate and Runoff division.  Its products and services are offered through financial intermediaries, advisors, independent distributors and sales specialists. Genworth Financial, Inc., which traces its roots back to 1871, became a public company in 2004 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. For more information, visit genworth.com. From time to time, Genworth Financial, Inc. releases important information via postings on its corporate website. Accordingly, investors and other interested parties are encouraged to enroll to receive automatic email alerts and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regarding new postings. Enrollment information is found under the "Investors" section of genworth.com.

0742-NLD-5/15/2012

CONTACT:
Jami Schlicher
JCPR
(973) 850-7309
[email protected]

SOURCE Altegris Advisors