Yahoo Finance Is JPMorgan Small Cap Growth Fund A (PGSGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, it would not be wise to start your search with JPMorgan Small Cap Growth Fund A (PGSGX). PGSGX bears 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
J.P. Morgan is responsible for PGSGX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. JPMorgan Small Cap Growth Fund A made its debut in July of 1991, and since then, PGSGX has accumulated about $351.45 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Eytan Shapiro is the fund's current manager and has held that role since September of 2004.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. PGSGX has a 5-year annualized total return of 5.68% and is 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 0.35%, 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 PGSGX over the past three years is 27.39% compared to the category average of 18.04%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 25.14% compared to the category average of 15.84%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.14, so it is likely going to be 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -3.36. This means 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 96.01% of its holdings in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $4.40 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Health
Technology
Other
Industrial Cyclical
This fund's turnover is about 35%, so the fund managers are making fewer trades than the average comparable fund.
Expenses
Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, PGSGX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.25% compared to the category average of 1.19%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, PGSGX is actually more expensive than its peers.
Investors should also note, that according to our data, the fund does not have any minimum investment requirements.
Bottom Line
Overall, JPMorgan Small Cap Growth Fund A ( PGSGX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Equity Report funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare PGSGX to its peers 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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