Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund might consider looking past TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Retirement (TRGIX Quick QuoteTRGIX - Free Report) . TRGIX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

TRGIX is a part of the TIAA-CREF family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Since TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Retirement made its debut in December of 2002, TRGIX has garnered more than $406.03 million in assets. Valerie Grant is the fund's current manager and has held that role since November of 2022.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. TRGIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 9.01% and is in the bottom 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 17.94%, 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. TRGIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 19.63% compared to the category average of 17.77%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 19.47% compared to the category average of 15.72%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.03, so investors should note that it is hypothetically as volatile as the market at large. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. TRGIX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -2.16, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.

This fund is currently holding about 97.54% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $243.27 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

• Technology
• Finance
• Non-Durable

This fund's turnover is about 74%, so the fund managers are making 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, TRGIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.65% compared to the category average of 0.99%. From a cost perspective, TRGIX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Retirement ( TRGIX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Retirement ( TRGIX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Equity Report 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 TRGIX too 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.