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Is Janus Henderson Global Life Science T (JAGLX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Sector - Health funds, a place to start could be Janus Henderson Global Life Science T (JAGLX - Free Report) . JAGLX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

The world of Sector - Health funds is an area filled with options, such as JAGLX. Healthcare is one of the biggest sectors of the American economy, and Sector - Health mutual funds provide a great opportunity to invest in this industry. Here, funds can include everything from for-profit hospitals to pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers.

History of Fund/Manager

Janus Fund is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of JAGLX. Since Janus Henderson Global Life Science T made its debut in December of 1998, JAGLX has garnered more than $1.41 billion in assets. Andrew Acker is the fund's current manager and has held that role since May of 2007.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 14%, and is in the top 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 15.64%, which places it in the top 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. JAGLX's standard deviation over the past three years is 17.43% compared to the category average of 15.62%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 15.62% compared to the category average of 13.09%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.83, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. JAGLX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.2, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, JAGLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.90% compared to the category average of 1.32%. From a cost perspective, JAGLX 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 Global Life Science T ( JAGLX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Janus Henderson Global Life Science T ( JAGLX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Sector - Health, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.


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