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Is Ave Maria Growth Fund (AVEGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, you might want to consider passing on by Ave Maria Growth Fund (AVEGX - Free Report) as a possibility. AVEGX 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
Ave Maria is based in Plymouth, MI, and is the manager of AVEGX. Ave Maria Growth Fund debuted in May of 2003. Since then, AVEGX has accumulated assets of about $764.89 million, according to the most recently available information. Adam Gaglio is the fund's current manager and has held that role since July of 2019.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 9.44%, and it sits in the middle 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 9.35%, 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. The standard deviation of AVEGX over the past three years is 20.45% compared to the category average of 23.03%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 20.52% compared to the category average of 21.23%. This makes the fund less 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. AVEGX has a 5-year beta of 1.05, 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -2.02, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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 largely on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 83.51% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $194.19 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Retail Trade
Industrial Cyclical
Turnover is 25%, which means, on average, the fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.
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, AVEGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.91% compared to the category average of 1.15%. From a cost perspective, AVEGX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Ave Maria Growth Fund ( AVEGX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Ave Maria Growth Fund ( AVEGX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on AVEGXin 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. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.
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Is Ave Maria Growth Fund (AVEGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, you might want to consider passing on by Ave Maria Growth Fund (AVEGX - Free Report) as a possibility. AVEGX 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
Ave Maria is based in Plymouth, MI, and is the manager of AVEGX. Ave Maria Growth Fund debuted in May of 2003. Since then, AVEGX has accumulated assets of about $764.89 million, according to the most recently available information. Adam Gaglio is the fund's current manager and has held that role since July of 2019.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 9.44%, and it sits in the middle 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 9.35%, 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. The standard deviation of AVEGX over the past three years is 20.45% compared to the category average of 23.03%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 20.52% compared to the category average of 21.23%. This makes the fund less 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. AVEGX has a 5-year beta of 1.05, 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -2.02, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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 largely on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 83.51% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $194.19 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Retail Trade
- Industrial Cyclical
Turnover is 25%, which means, on average, the fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.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, AVEGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.91% compared to the category average of 1.15%. From a cost perspective, AVEGX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Ave Maria Growth Fund ( AVEGX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Ave Maria Growth Fund ( AVEGX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on AVEGXin 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. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.