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Is Eagle Mid Cap Growth R6 (HRAUX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Any investors hoping to find a Mid Cap Growth fund could think about starting with Eagle Mid Cap Growth R6 (HRAUX - Free Report) . HRAUX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

HRAUX 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

Eagle Funds is responsible for HRAUX, and the company is based out of St. Petersburg, FL. The Eagle Mid Cap Growth R6 made its debut in August of 2011 and HRAUX has managed to accumulate roughly $4.28 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 20.77%, and it sits in the top 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 18.25%, 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. HRAUX's standard deviation over the past three years is 23.55% compared to the category average of 16.11%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 19.05% compared to the category average of 13.26%. 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, which means it is hypothetically 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. HRAUX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 1.81, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, HRAUX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.64% compared to the category average of 1.17%. From a cost perspective, HRAUX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $0; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Eagle Mid Cap Growth R6 ( HRAUX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Eagle Mid Cap Growth R6 ( HRAUX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on HRAUXin 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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