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Is Putnam Small Cap Growth A (PNSAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Looking for a Small Cap Growth fund? You may want to consider Putnam Small Cap Growth A (PNSAX - Free Report) as a possible option. PNSAX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

PNSAX is one of many different Small Cap Growth funds to choose from. Small Cap Growth mutual funds build portfolios around stocks with markets caps under $2 billion and large growth opportunities. Additionally, these portfolios typically highlight smaller companies in promising markets and industries.

History of Fund/Manager

PNSAX finds itself in the Putnam Funds family, based out of Canton, MA. Putnam Small Cap Growth A made its debut in December of 1997, and since then, PNSAX has accumulated about $121.26 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, William J. Monroe, has been in charge of the fund since March of 2017.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. PNSAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 12.82% and it sits in the middle 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 7.84%, 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. The standard deviation of PNSAX over the past three years is 14.73% compared to the category average of 9.53%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 14.62% compared to the category average of 9.50%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, PNSAX lost 57.62% and underperformed its peer group by 4.47%. This might suggest that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a bear market.

Nevertheless, investors should also note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.19, 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. With a negative alpha of -3.72, 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 largely on equities that are traded in the United States.

The mutual fund currently has 90.04% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $3.49 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Technology
  2. Industrial Cyclical
  3. Other
  4. Health
  5. Services

This fund's turnover is about 127%, so the fund managers are making more trades in a given year than the category average.

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, PNSAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.21% compared to the category average of 1.33%. PNSAX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $500 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Putnam Small Cap Growth A has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about PNSAX? 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. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.


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