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Is T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Value (TRMCX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Equity Report category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Value (TRMCX - Free Report) . TRMCX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

T. Rowe Price is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of TRMCX. Since T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Value made its debut in June of 1996, TRMCX has garnered more than $4.01 billion in assets. David J. Wallack is the fund's current manager and has held that role since December of 2000.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 7.38%, 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 11.03%, which places it in the top 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 TRMCX over the past three years is 23.63% compared to the category average of 18.38%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 20.39% compared to the category average of 16.21%. 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. TRMCX has a 5-year beta of 1, which means it is likely to be as volatile as the market average. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. TRMCX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -2.35, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, TRMCX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.81% compared to the category average of 1.10%. From a cost perspective, TRMCX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Value ( TRMCX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Value ( TRMCX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about TRMCX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.


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