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Is Transamerica Capital Growth A (IALAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Having trouble finding a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? Well, Transamerica Capital Growth A (IALAX - Free Report) would not be a good potential starting point right now. IALAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Transamerica is responsible for IALAX, and the company is based out of Clearwater, FL. Transamerica Capital Growth A made its debut in March of 1999, and since then, IALAX has accumulated about $375.57 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. IALAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 2.76% 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 0.35%, 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. IALAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 37.41% compared to the category average of 18.86%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 31.48% compared to the category average of 16.62%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.2, the fund is likely to be more volatile than 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -6.62. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, IALAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.10% compared to the category average of 0.99%. So, IALAX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, Transamerica Capital Growth A ( IALAX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Transamerica Capital Growth A ( IALAX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about IALAX? 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. 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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