Fund Evaluator:

Steward Covered Call Income A Overview

Steward Covered Call Income A (SCJAX) is an actively managed Nontraditional Equity Derivative Income fund. Crossmark Steward Funds launched the fund in 2017.

The investment seeks dividend income and options premium income, with the potential for capital appreciation and less volatility than the broad equity market. The fund invests in a portfolio of large cap, dividend paying, equity securities that are listed on U.S. exchanges and to write (sell) covered call options on those securities with the overall goal of providing options premium income and lowering volatility of the fund's portfolio when compared to the broader uncovered large cap securities market.

About Steward Covered Call Income A (SCJAX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 7.01 years: Ryan Caylor (2021), Paul Townsen (2017). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: S&P 500 (TR) (1970) index with a weighting of 100% and CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite BXM TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Steward Covered Call Income A has 219 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 34.5% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Steward Covered Call Income A is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the Nontraditional Equity fund group. Steward Covered Call Income A has -0.4% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 69.7%. There is -0.4% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Steward Covered Call Income A has 30.7% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $8 million in total assets, which is below the $233 million average for the Derivative Income category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

SCJAX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Steward Covered Call Income A expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Derivative Income category. Steward Covered Call Income A has an expense ratio of 1.25%, which is 11% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a D. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Steward Covered Call Income A has a portfolio turnover rate of 86%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 114% for the Derivative Income category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Steward Covered Call Income A returned 0.1%, which earned it a grade of F, as the Derivative Income category had an average return of 1.7%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Steward Covered Call Income A has a trailing yield of 0.13%, which is below the 4.47% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly and its capital gains monthly.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Steward Covered Call Income A Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 3.3%, 4.7 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned 11.6% over the past year (grade of D), 12.2% over the past three years (grade of C) and 8.5% per year over the past five years (grade of C).

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