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Is Glenmede Large Cap Core Portfolio (GTLOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If investors are looking at the Large Cap Growth fund category, make sure to pass over Glenmede Large Cap Core Portfolio (GTLOX - Free Report) . GTLOX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

GTLOX is classified in the Large Cap Growth segment by Zacks, an area full of possibilities. Companies are usually considered to be large-cap if their stock market valuation is more than $10 billion. Large Cap Growth mutual funds invest in many large U.S. firms that are projected to grow at a faster rate than their large-cap peers.

History of Fund/Manager

Glenmede is based in Philadelphia, PA, and is the manager of GTLOX. The Glenmede Large Cap Core Portfolio made its debut in March of 2004 and GTLOX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.87 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 9.15%, and is in the bottom 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 12.23%, 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. GTLOX's standard deviation over the past three years is 12.7% compared to the category average of 11.39%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 12.4% compared to the category average of 11.36%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

One cannot ignore the volatility of this segment, however, as it is always important for investors to remember the downside to any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, GTLOX lost 49.16% and underperformed comparable funds by 0.3%. This means that the fund could possibly be a worse choice than its peers during a down market environment.

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. GTLOX has a 5-year beta of 1.01, which means it is likely to be as volatile as the market average. 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. GTLOX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -1.42, which means 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.

As of the last filing date, the mutual fund has 80.79% of its assets in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $97.22 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Finance
  2. Technology
With turnover at about 86%, this fund makes 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, GTLOX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.86% compared to the category average of 1.05%. GTLOX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

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, Glenmede Large Cap Core Portfolio ( GTLOX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.

Want even more information about GTLOX? 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.


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