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Is JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A (VSCOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If investors are looking at the Small Cap Growth fund category, JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A (VSCOX - Free Report) could be a potential option. VSCOX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
VSCOX is one of many different Small Cap Growth funds to choose from. Small Cap Growth mutual funds build portfolios around stocks with markets caps under $2 billion and large growth opportunities. Additionally, these portfolios typically highlight smaller companies in promising markets and industries.
History of Fund/Manager
VSCOX is a part of the J.P. Morgan family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. The JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A made its debut in May of 1997 and VSCOX has managed to accumulate roughly $232.17 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Eytan Shapiro is the fund's current manager and has held that role since September of 2004.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 25.28%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 17.67%, which places it in the bottom third during this time-frame.
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. The standard deviation of VSCOX over the past three years is 24.13% compared to the category average of 17.57%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 19.89% compared to the category average of 14.53%. 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. VSCOX has a 5-year beta of 1.2, 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 4.97. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Examining 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 92.65% of its holdings in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $3.52 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Finance
Industrial Cyclical
Health
Other
Technology
Turnover is 96%, which means, on average, the fund makes more trades in a given year than the category average.
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, VSCOX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.24% compared to the category average of 1.21%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VSCOX is actually more expensive than its peers.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A ( VSCOX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Small Cap Growth area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into VSCOX too for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.
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Is JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A (VSCOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If investors are looking at the Small Cap Growth fund category, JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A (VSCOX - Free Report) could be a potential option. VSCOX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
VSCOX is one of many different Small Cap Growth funds to choose from. Small Cap Growth mutual funds build portfolios around stocks with markets caps under $2 billion and large growth opportunities. Additionally, these portfolios typically highlight smaller companies in promising markets and industries.
History of Fund/Manager
VSCOX is a part of the J.P. Morgan family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. The JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A made its debut in May of 1997 and VSCOX has managed to accumulate roughly $232.17 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Eytan Shapiro is the fund's current manager and has held that role since September of 2004.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 25.28%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 17.67%, which places it in the bottom third during this time-frame.
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. The standard deviation of VSCOX over the past three years is 24.13% compared to the category average of 17.57%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 19.89% compared to the category average of 14.53%. 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. VSCOX has a 5-year beta of 1.2, 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 4.97. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Examining 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 92.65% of its holdings in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $3.52 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Finance
- Industrial Cyclical
- Health
- Other
- Technology
Turnover is 96%, which means, on average, the fund makes more trades in a given year than the category average.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, VSCOX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.24% compared to the category average of 1.21%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VSCOX is actually more expensive than its peers.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A ( VSCOX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Small Cap Growth area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into VSCOX too for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.