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Is Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement (HNACX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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On the lookout for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? Starting with Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement (HNACX - Free Report) is one possibility. HNACX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

HNACX is a part of the Harbor Funds family of funds, a company based out of Chicago, IL. Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement debuted in March of 2016. Since then, HNACX has accumulated assets of about $11.39 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. HNACX has a 5-year annualized total return of 20.32% and it sits 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 20.58%, 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. HNACX's standard deviation over the past three years is 22.99% compared to the category average of 15.82%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 20.21% compared to the category average of 14.09%. 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. HNACX has a 5-year beta of 1.13, 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. HNACX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 2.51, 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 primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.

Currently, this mutual fund is holding 86.34% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $551.69 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Technology
  2. Retail Trade
Turnover is 48%, 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, HNACX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.57% compared to the category average of 1%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, HNACX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1 million, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement ( HNACX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement ( HNACX ) looks like a good potential 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 HNACX to its peers as well 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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