When searching for a mutual fund, what do you look for? Obviously, you want solid performance over time. Many funds are flashy but only shine for a year or two then fall by the wayside.

The Wall Street Journal features two no-load funds that have topped their peers. What sets them apart is that they don't follow the crowd. They do intensive research and filter out all but a few holdings. They are not index traders.

Analyst Upgrades

• BMO Capital upgraded Church & Dwight (CHD) to outperform from market perform with a $75 price target, citing valuation.
• JPMorgan upgraded Men's Wearhouse (MW) to overweight from neutral with a $25 price target. The firm cites valuation and expectations for margin expansion for the upgrade.
• Longbow upgraded Greenbrier (GBX) to buy from neutral and has a $15 target on the stock. The firm's checks indicate demand is tightening for intermodal railcars.
• Sunpower (SPWRA) was upgraded to buy from hold at Soleil.
• Tesoro (TSO) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.

Homeowner insurance provider Chubb (CB) is having a rough day, as the company was downgraded to market perform from outperform at FBR Capital. The downgrade was accompanied by a price-target lowering from $60 to $65. This news forced the stock more than a percentage point lower in pre-open trade, and CB was more than 2% lower in early trading.

I find it rather difficult to believe that CB is going to get anywhere near $60 anytime soon. The shares are currently trending sideways between the support of its 10- and 20-monthly moving averages and the $53 to $55 region. I'm not sure why the company's target price would be set in all-time high range, but I am not one of the expert analysts.

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey analyst Paul Miller says that Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) needs more than $80 billion in new common equity. The company currently has $61.7 billion in equity supporting $2.4 trillion in assets. The FBR report notes that "It would take over $80 billion of new common equity to reach even the low end of the range, and we believe Bank of America simply is not generating sufficient capital internally in this environment to put a dent in this size capital hole."

Uh-oh. The Treasury Department has been plowing money into Bank of America, but the company still apparently isn't anywhere close to achieving stability. Bank of America's stock price has plunged 20% or so today, leaving it down about 60% so far this year.

Of course an outright collapse of the bank would be a disaster for the economy, but before we plug more taxpayer cash into a sinking ship, it would be a good idea to keep in mind what a lousy track record this company has with consumers: unjustified and inexplicable rate hikes imposed on consumers who have done nothing wrong, ripoff savings accounts, predatory credit cards marketed on college campuses, and checking accounts loaded with gotcha fees.

The company still has a market cap of more than $35 billion but I have a proposal: If Bank of America is to get another dime of government cheese, common stockholders should be wiped out so that the benefits of any turnaround can accrue to taxpayers.

Last night, Cramer ran through his weekly SELL BLOCK on CNBC's Mad Money. This is where he reviews past recommendations and shows where he was a champ or chump and what he recommends to Buy, Sell, or Hold.

Over the past few years, FBR Capital Markets has been stifled under a REIT structure that has made it difficult for investors to figure out.

So, now FBR is doing an IPO.

FBR has all the elements of a full-service firm: advisory on M&A and IPOs, institutional brokerage, research and asset management.

In fact, FBR did a private placement last year and one of the investors was private equity firm Crestview Partners. The offering resulted in $260 million to FBR.

With the money, FBR bought the investment bank Legacy Partners. There has also been expansion into London and Australia.

Although, FBR is certainly not a Goldman (NYSE: GS) or Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS). Revenues were $364 million last year, with a net loss of $9.8 million.

Oh, and yes, the underwriter on the deal is FBR and the proposed ticker is "FBCM."

You can check out the prospectus at the SEC web site.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

I have respected every professional I have ever dealt with at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc. (NYSE: FBR). They are all smart, on top of their respective sectors, and right on target with the research they produce.

Quality always wins out so I expect to see FBR's stock eventually come back. Of course the problem now is FBR's exposure to the subprime market. You can't turn a corner without seeing some headline screaming about the crash of the subprime mortgage market and, included in those companies hit hard because of concerns about their exposure to this mess is, unfortunately, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey.

The subprime mortgage market, which offers no-money or little-money down loans to people unable to get a conventional mortgage due to bad credit or insufficient income, boomed in recent years, helping to push housing prices into the stratosphere, and in the process ensuring its continued popularity. To compensate for the risk, a subprime mortgage traditionally is offered at a higher interest rate than a normal mortgage, and over 80% of them are flexible ARM mortgages, whose rates traditionally jump in a few years.

This jump, coupled with the FED's rising interest rates, has caused monthly mortgage payments for subprime holders to rocket upwards in recent months. More and more people are unable to meet their payments and are defaulting on their loans. Many subprime lenders are going out of business.

While FBR's stock has dropped along with investors' concerns about the subprime market, I'm not as concerned about it as with others in this market. FBR is a boutique investment bank, and the subprime mortgage market was just one element in a suite of services it offers. Employing just 150 people nationwide, FBR's subsidiaries are involved in a broad spectrum of investment banking, brokerage services, and asset management for high income individuals and companies. It has a focus on supporting the growth of middle market companies, which as its website points out, is an under-served sector in the US.

Despite its exposure to the subprime situation, I think that this is a strong company that serves its clients well. Plus, it's been actively looking for ways to restructure and minimize the damage done to it due to the subprime bust. On March 30, it cut personnel in its subprime division.

Type of stock: An excellent boutique investment banking firm hit hard by the general market reaction to the subprime problem (as well as other previous problems unrelated to its core competency).

Price target: I think this is a stock that will bounce back. Right now, FBR is trading at $5.52, down from its 52 week high of $12.07. It may fall farther after last week's news about cutting personnel, and if it drops further, I'd go against the flow and pick this one up. We might see FBR double to $10 or higher in the next 18 months.

Note: As of 7/13/07 I own shares of FBR

Hilary Kramer is a financial editor and money coach for AOL and an authority on investing. Visit her at www.hilarykramer.com.

On today's STOP TRADING! segment on CNBC, Jim Cramer issued what he calls a "Dirty Dozen" of stocks to avoid. He made some of these in sub-prime liar-loan companies as well on TheStreet.com. Here is his list that the short sellers are targeting, although Cramer said this isn't his list per se and he actually thinks some of these are well managed. Many of these are up huge today as well:

IndyMac Bancorp. Inc. (NYSE:NDE)
Carterac (NYSE:CHC)
Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc. (NYSE:FBR)
Fremont General Corp. (NYSE:FMT)
Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT)
Newcastle Investment Corp. (NYSE:NCT)
American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. (NYSE:AHM)
Gramercy Capital Corp. (NYSE:GKK)
Rait Financial Trust (NYSE:RAS)
Thornburg (NYSE:TMA)
CapitalSource (NYSE:CSE)

There is one missing here, but that's 11 of the 12. Today is the second anniversary of the MAD MONEY show.