Have you been searching for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You might want to begin with T. Rowe Price Growth Stock I (PRUFX Quick QuotePRUFX - Free Report) . PRUFX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

T. Rowe Price is responsible for PRUFX, and the company is based out of Baltimore, MD. Since T. Rowe Price Growth Stock I made its debut in September of 2015, PRUFX has garnered more than $12.19 billion in assets. Joseph Fath is the fund's current manager and has held that role since September of 2015.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 7.48%, and is in the bottom 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 10.35%, 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. The standard deviation of PRUFX over the past three years is 24.41% compared to the category average of 18.86%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 21.93% compared to the category average of 16.62%. 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. PRUFX has a 5-year beta of 1.09, 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. PRUFX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -3.66, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Examining 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.

Currently, this mutual fund is holding 86.78% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $392.95 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

• Technology
• Retail Trade

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, PRUFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.53% compared to the category average of 0.99%. From a cost perspective, PRUFX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $500,000; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, T. Rowe Price Growth Stock I ( PRUFX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, T. Rowe Price Growth Stock I ( PRUFX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Equity Report, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.