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Is T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund (PRGFX) 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 you should consider investigating is T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund (PRGFX - Free Report) . PRGFX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
PRGFX is a part of the T. Rowe Price family of funds, a company based out of Baltimore, MD. T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund made its debut in April of 1950, and since then, PRGFX has accumulated about $12.94 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Joseph Fath who has been in charge of the fund since January of 2014.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 5.07%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 1.7%, 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 PRGFX over the past three years is 25.4% compared to the category average of 18.79%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 21.8% compared to the category average of 16.49%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.08, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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. PRGFX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -4.25, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Investigating 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 primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 98.17% of its holdings in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $367.41 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Retail Trade
With turnover at about 31.8%, this fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.
Expenses
For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, PRGFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.68% compared to the category average of 0.99%. So, PRGFX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, and each subsequent investment should be at least $100.
Bottom Line
Overall, T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund ( PRGFX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on PRGFXin the Mutual Fund Equity Report category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.
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Is T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund (PRGFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Equity Report category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that you should consider investigating is T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund (PRGFX - Free Report) . PRGFX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
PRGFX is a part of the T. Rowe Price family of funds, a company based out of Baltimore, MD. T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund made its debut in April of 1950, and since then, PRGFX has accumulated about $12.94 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Joseph Fath who has been in charge of the fund since January of 2014.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 5.07%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 1.7%, 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 PRGFX over the past three years is 25.4% compared to the category average of 18.79%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 21.8% compared to the category average of 16.49%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.08, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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. PRGFX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -4.25, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Investigating 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 primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 98.17% of its holdings in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $367.41 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Retail Trade
With turnover at about 31.8%, this fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.Expenses
For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, PRGFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.68% compared to the category average of 0.99%. So, PRGFX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, and each subsequent investment should be at least $100.
Bottom Line
Overall, T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund ( PRGFX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on PRGFXin the Mutual Fund Equity Report category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.