GuideStone Funds Launches Strategic Alternatives Fund

DALLAS, July 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- GuideStone Funds™, the nation's largest Christian-screened mutual fund family, today announced it has launched a strategic alternatives fund for financial advisors and their clients. The GuideStone Strategic Alternatives Fund (Fund) seeks to provide absolute returns with both lower volatility than and low correlation to traditional equity and fixed-income markets. GuideStone Funds' move into the alternatives investment space follows its Lipper Award-winning Defensive Market Strategies Fund (Institutional Share Class-best among similar funds honored by Lipper for their consistently strong risk-adjusted performance relative to their peers in the Flexible Portfolio Funds category as of November 30, 2016 out of 425 funds in the three-year period and out of 322 funds in the five-year period), which seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation with reduced volatility compared to equity markets. 

Looking ahead to investors' interest in responding to the changing economy, the new Strategic Alternatives Fund offers a low correlation to other asset classes, the opportunity to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns, enhanced diversification and an overall broader investment universe. By analyzing the market to meet specific investor needs using customized strategies, GuideStone has leveraged its experience with the Defensive Market Strategies Fund to address the changing demand of a more volatile investment environment.

"Traditional diversification is not always effective, as we saw in 2008," said David Spika, CFA, president of GuideStone Capital Management™, the investment advisor to GuideStone Funds. "Alternative investments, however, are a way to provide additional types of exposure to hedge risk more effectively. That is the impetus for the GuideStone Strategic Alternatives Fund which addresses the desire many investors have to potentially lower their risk, with the possibility for more consistently positive returns," he said.

The GuideStone Strategic Alternatives Fund combines four principal strategies, all of which are less dependent on traditional market factors, and include long/short and event-driven equity, options selling, currency trading and short duration high yield. The Fund is constructed so that each of the four individual strategies strives to provide independent benefits, but together help mitigate the effects of the market volatility accompanied by the desire for increased long-term capital appreciation.

For more information visit http://www.guidestonefunds.com/alternatives.

About GuideStone Funds
GuideStone Funds is the nation's largest Christian-screened mutual fund family, providing a broad range of investment strategies to meet the financial goals of both individual and institutional investors. With more than $11.6 billion in assets as of June 30, 2017, Dallas-based GuideStone Funds offers investors the opportunity to invest in its award-winning faith-based funds. The company uses a manager-of-managers investment approach which is intended to benefit the investor by providing access to multiple, proven investment management firms within a single investment fund, potentially maximizing returns and seeking to reduce risk. GuideStone Funds does not invest in any company that is publicly recognized as being in the alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pornography or abortion industries or any company whose products, services or activities are publicly recognized as being incompatible with the moral and ethical posture of parent company GuideStone Financial Resources. Visit http://www.guidestonefunds.com for more information.

There can be no guarantee that any strategy will be successful. Investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The alternative investment strategies that the Fund pursues are complex and may involve greater risk than traditional investments (stocks, bonds and cash). The performance of alternative investments is not expected to correlate closely with more traditional investments; however, it is possible that alternative investments will decline in value along with equity or fixed-income markets, or both, or that they may not otherwise perform in accordance with expectations. Alternative investments can be highly volatile, are often less liquid, particularly in periods of stress, are generally more complex and less transparent, and may have more complicated tax profiles than traditional investments. In addition, the performance of alternative investments may be more dependent on a sub-adviser's experience and skill than traditional investments. The use of alternative investments may not achieve the desired effect.

Foreign currencies and emerging markets involve certain risks such as currency volatility, political and social instability and reduced market liquidity. Short sales by a Fund theoretically involve unlimited loss potential since the market price of securities sold short may continuously increase. Leverage may increase the risk of loss and cause fluctuations in the market value of the Fund's portfolio to have disproportionately large effects or cause the NAV of the Fund generally to decline faster than it would otherwise. To the extent that the investment advisor misjudges current market conditions, the Fund's volatility may be amplified by its use of derivatives and its ability to anticipate price movements in relevant markets, underlying derivative instruments and futures contracts. The Fund's currency investment strategy may be impacted by currency exchange rates, which can fluctuate significantly over short or extended periods of time. These changes may be caused by governmental or political factors that affect the value of what the Fund owns and its share price. The Fund may experience high portfolio turnover, which may result in higher costs and capital gains. The Fund is a recently formed mutual fund and has a limited history of operations. There can be no assurances that its objective will be met.

The Defensive Market Strategies Fund may be suitable for investors who have a medium- to long-term investment horizon, possess a moderate tolerance for risk and seek to participate in the return potential of stocks at a slightly lower risk level than an all-stock portfolio. This fund is subject to interest rate risk, meaning, when interest rates rise, the value of the existing bonds decreases and vice versa. Changes in interest rates have a bigger impact on long-duration holdings than on short-duration holdings. The value of convertible securities increases and decreases with the value of the underlying common stock, but may also be sensitive to changes in interest rates. Foreign securities may be subject to greater risk than domestic securities due to currency volatility, reduced market liquidity, and political and economic instability. To the extent that the investment advisor misjudges current market conditions, the fund's volatility may be amplified by its use of short sales and derivatives and by its ability to select sub-advisers to allocate assets. Short sales by a fund theoretically involve unlimited loss potential since the market price of securities sold short may continuously increase. Leverage may increase the risk of loss and cause fluctuations in the market value of the fund's portfolio to have disproportionately large effects or cause the NAV of the fund to decline faster than it would otherwise.

*About the 2017 Flexible Portfolio Funds Award (3 year and 5 year): Classification averages are calculated with all eligible share classes for each eligible classification. The calculation periods extend over 36, 60 and 120 months. The highest Lipper Leader for Consistent Return (Effective Return) value within each eligible classification determines the fund classification winner over 3, 5 or 10 years.

As of June 30, 2017, GuideStone Funds has $11.6 billion in assets, which makes GuideStone Funds the nation's largest Christian-screened mutual fund family. No other fund family with a Christian screen exceeds GuideStone Funds in asset size.

Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the GuideStone Funds before investing. A prospectus with this and other information about the Funds may be obtained by calling 1-888-GS-FUNDS (1-888-473-8637) or downloading one at GuideStoneFunds.com. It should be read carefully before investing.

GuideStone Funds shares are distributed by Foreside Funds Distributors, LLC, which is not an advisor affiliate.

SOURCE GuideStone Funds