Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement (HNACX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Have you been searching for a Large Cap Growth fund? You might want to begin with Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement (HNACX - Free Report) . HNACX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

HNACX is classified in the Large Cap Growth segment by Zacks, an area full of possibilities. Companies are usually considered to be large-cap if their stock market valuation is more than $10 billion. Large Cap Growth mutual funds invest in many large U.S. firms that are projected to grow at a faster rate than their large-cap peers.

History of Fund/Manager

Harbor Funds is responsible for HNACX, and the company is based out of Chicago, IL. Since Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement made its debut in March of 2016, HNACX has garnered more than $7.56 billion in assets. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 17.22%, and is in the top third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 9.32%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.

When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. Compared to the category average of 15.98%, the standard deviation of HNACX over the past three years is 24.04%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 23.82% compared to the category average of 16.65%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. HNACX has a 5-year beta of 1.16, which means it is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. With a positive alpha of 0.83, managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Exploring the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is largely on equities that are traded in the United States.

As of the last filing date, the mutual fund has 79.23% of its assets in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $618.17 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  • Technology
  • Retail Trade
Turnover is 27%, which means, on average, the fund makes fewer trades than the average comparable fund.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, HNACX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.59% compared to the category average of 0.95%. So, HNACX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1 million, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Overall, Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement ( HNACX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement ( HNACX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Your research on the Large Cap Growth segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Harbor Capital Appreciation Retire (HNACX) - free report >>

Published in