Is Janus Henderson Enterprise A (JDMAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Mid Cap Growth fund seekers should consider taking a look at Janus Henderson Enterprise A (JDMAX). JDMAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

JDMAX is part of the Mid Cap Growth section, a segment that boasts a wide array of possible selections. While Mid Cap Growth mutual funds choose companies with a stock market valuation between $2 billion and $10 billion, stocks in these funds are also expected to show broad considerable growth opportunities for investors compared to their peers. To be considered a growth stock, companies must consistently report impressive sales and/or earnings growth.

History of Fund/Manager

Janus Fund is responsible for JDMAX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. Since Janus Henderson Enterprise A made its debut in October of 2004, JDMAX has garnered more than $508.83 million in assets. The fund's current manager, Brian Demain, has been in charge of the fund since July of 2009.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 18.98%, 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 19.45%, 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. Over the past three years, JDMAX's standard deviation comes in at 21.34%, compared to the category average of 15.96%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 17.16% compared to the category average of 13.16%. 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. JDMAX has a 5-year beta of 1.07, 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. JDMAX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 0.59, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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 largely on equities that are traded in the United States.

The mutual fund currently has 92.87% of its holdings in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $23.86 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

1. Technology

2. Finance

3. Other

Turnover is 14%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than its comparable peers.

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, JDMAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.12% compared to the category average of 1.18%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, JDMAX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Janus Henderson Enterprise A ( JDMAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Janus Henderson Enterprise A ( JDMAX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on JDMAXin the Mid Cap Growth 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.

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