Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is T. Rowe Price Personal Strategy Growth (TRSGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Looking for an Index fund? You may want to consider T. Rowe Price Personal Strategy Growth (TRSGX - Free Report) as a possible option. TRSGX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.

History of Fund/Manager

T. Rowe Price is responsible for TRSGX, and the company is based out of Baltimore, MD. Since T. Rowe Price Personal Strategy Growth made its debut in July of 1994, TRSGX has garnered more than $2.08 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by Charles M. Shriver who has been in charge of the fund since May of 2011.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 10.38%, and is in the middle 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 8.48%, 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. The standard deviation of TRSGX over the past three years is 8.94% compared to the category average of 9.26%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 8.63% compared to the category average of 9.67%. This makes the fund less 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. TRSGX lost 48.21% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 1.11%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.

Nevertheless, investors should also note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.82, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. TRSGX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -0.49, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, TRSGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.66% compared to the category average of 0.85%. From a cost perspective, TRSGX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Your research on the Index segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


T. Rowe Price Spectrum Moderate Gr (TRSGX) - free report >>