If you're looking for a Mid Cap Growth fund category, then a potential option is Motley Fool Great America Fund . TMFGX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
Zacks categorizes TMFGX as Mid Cap Growth, a segment packed with options. Mid Cap Growth mutual funds aim to target companies with a market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion that are also expected to exhibit more extensive growth opportunities for investors than their peers. A firm is typically considered to be a growth stock if it consistently posts impressive sales and/or earnings growth.
History of Fund/Manager
TMFGX is a part of the Motley Fool family of funds, a company based out of Providence, RI. Motley Fool Great America Fund debuted in November of 2010. Since then, TMFGX has accumulated assets of about $232.90 million, according to the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. TMFGX has a 5-year annualized total return of 8.03% 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 14.21%, 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 the fund over the past 5 years is 14.94% compared to the category average of 1.22%. 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.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 1.11, 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. TMFGX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -3.14, demonstrating that 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.
As of the last filing date, the mutual fund has 83.28% of its assets in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $9.73 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Non-Durable
- Health
This fund's turnover is about 0%, so the fund managers are making fewer trades than the average comparable fund.
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, TMFGX is a no load fund and it has an expense ratio of 1.05%.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $500 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $50.
Bottom Line
With a rank of 'hold' we aren't getting a good signal one way or another on TMFGX. That is why it might be a good idea to consider other items, such as the fund's expense ratio of 1.05%, and how this compares to other potential options being considered for investment. If cheaper, it might make a decent choice, but a more expensive fund might be worth avoiding. Just make sure to pay attention to its rank in case it shifts in the near future.
For additional information on the Mid Cap Growth area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into TMFGX too 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.
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Is Motley Fool Great America Fund (TMFGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you're looking for a Mid Cap Growth fund category, then a potential option is Motley Fool Great America Fund . TMFGX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
Zacks categorizes TMFGX as Mid Cap Growth, a segment packed with options. Mid Cap Growth mutual funds aim to target companies with a market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion that are also expected to exhibit more extensive growth opportunities for investors than their peers. A firm is typically considered to be a growth stock if it consistently posts impressive sales and/or earnings growth.
History of Fund/Manager
TMFGX is a part of the Motley Fool family of funds, a company based out of Providence, RI. Motley Fool Great America Fund debuted in November of 2010. Since then, TMFGX has accumulated assets of about $232.90 million, according to the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. TMFGX has a 5-year annualized total return of 8.03% 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 14.21%, 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 the fund over the past 5 years is 14.94% compared to the category average of 1.22%. 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.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 1.11, 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. TMFGX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -3.14, demonstrating that 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.
As of the last filing date, the mutual fund has 83.28% of its assets in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $9.73 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Non-Durable
- Health
This fund's turnover is about 0%, so the fund managers are making fewer trades than the average comparable fund.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, TMFGX is a no load fund and it has an expense ratio of 1.05%.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $500 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $50.
Bottom Line
With a rank of 'hold' we aren't getting a good signal one way or another on TMFGX. That is why it might be a good idea to consider other items, such as the fund's expense ratio of 1.05%, and how this compares to other potential options being considered for investment. If cheaper, it might make a decent choice, but a more expensive fund might be worth avoiding. Just make sure to pay attention to its rank in case it shifts in the near future.
For additional information on the Mid Cap Growth area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into TMFGX too 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.