There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Equity Report category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that may not be worth investigating is TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Retirement (TRGIX Quick QuoteTRGIX - Free Report) . TRGIX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

TRGIX finds itself in the TIAA-CREF family, based out of Boston, MA. Since TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Retirement made its debut in December of 2002, TRGIX has garnered more than $457.92 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by Susan Kempler who has been in charge of the fund since March of 2006.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 7.17%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 6.12%, 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. Over the past three years, TRGIX's standard deviation comes in at 20.98%, compared to the category average of 16.38%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 18.87% compared to the category average of 14.6%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.03, the fund is likely to be as volatile as the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -2.04, which shows 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.

Right now, 99.26% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, with an average market capitalization of $388.17 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

1. Technology
2. Finance

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, TRGIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.65% compared to the category average of 0.99%. So, TRGIX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

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, TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Retirement ( TRGIX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Retirement ( TRGIX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about TRGIX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.