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Is JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A (VSCOX) 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 JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A (VSCOX - Free Report) . VSCOX holds 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
J.P. Morgan is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of VSCOX. The JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A made its debut in May of 1997 and VSCOX has managed to accumulate roughly $326.57 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Eytan Shapiro, has been in charge of the fund since September of 2004.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 8.57%, and is 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 8.25%, which places it in the middle 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. VSCOX's standard deviation over the past three years is 24.22% compared to the category average of 19.79%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 22.07% compared to the category average of 17.38%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.07, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -0.84, which shows 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 largely on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 98.54% of its holdings in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $3.74 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Finance
Industrial Cyclical
Health
Other
Technology
This fund's turnover is about 45%, so the fund managers are making 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, VSCOX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.25% compared to the category average of 1.07%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VSCOX is actually more expensive than its peers.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A ( VSCOX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on VSCOXin 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. 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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Is JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A (VSCOX) 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 JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A (VSCOX - Free Report) . VSCOX holds 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
J.P. Morgan is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of VSCOX. The JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A made its debut in May of 1997 and VSCOX has managed to accumulate roughly $326.57 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Eytan Shapiro, has been in charge of the fund since September of 2004.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 8.57%, and is 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 8.25%, which places it in the middle 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. VSCOX's standard deviation over the past three years is 24.22% compared to the category average of 19.79%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 22.07% compared to the category average of 17.38%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.07, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -0.84, which shows 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 largely on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 98.54% of its holdings in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $3.74 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Finance
- Industrial Cyclical
- Health
- Other
- Technology
This fund's turnover is about 45%, so the fund managers are making 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, VSCOX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.25% compared to the category average of 1.07%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VSCOX is actually more expensive than its peers.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, JPMorgan Dynamic Small Cap Growth A ( VSCOX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on VSCOXin 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. 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.