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Is Parnassus Endeavor Fund (PARWX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Mutual Fund Equity Report fund seekers should consider taking a look at Parnassus Endeavor Fund (PARWX - Free Report) . PARWX 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

PARWX is a part of the Parnassus family of funds, a company based out of San Francisco, CA. Since Parnassus Endeavor Fund made its debut in April of 2005, PARWX has garnered more than $3.04 billion in assets. Billy Hwan is the fund's current manager and has held that role since May of 2018.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. PARWX has a 5-year annualized total return of 12.51% 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 16.45%, 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. Over the past three years, PARWX's standard deviation comes in at 22.17%, compared to the category average of 17.53%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 21.51% compared to the category average of 15.7%. 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 1.13, 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -1, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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 95.46% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $199.47 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Technology
  2. Finance
  3. Health
Turnover is 37.22%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.

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, PARWX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.90% compared to the category average of 0.99%. From a cost perspective, PARWX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, Parnassus Endeavor Fund ( PARWX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on PARWXin the Mutual Fund Equity Report 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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