Mid Cap Growth fund seekers should consider taking a look at Janus Henderson Enterprise D (JANEX Quick QuoteJANEX - Free Report) . JANEX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We note that JANEX is a Mid Cap Growth fund, and this area is also loaded with many different options. Companies are usually considered growth stocks when they consistently report notable sales and/or earnings growth. Thus, Mid Cap Growth funds pick stocks--usually companies with a market cap between $2 billion and $10 billion--that demonstrate extensive growth opportunities for investors compared to their peers.

History of Fund/Manager

Janus Fund is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of JANEX. Janus Henderson Enterprise D debuted in September of 1992. Since then, JANEX has accumulated assets of about $2.33 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Brian Demain who has been in charge of the fund since July of 2009.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. JANEX has a 5-year annualized total return of 17.93% and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 17.22%, 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 JANEX over the past three years is 21.4% compared to the category average of 15.87%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 17.44% compared to the category average of 13.45%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.08, 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 positive alpha of 1.66, managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, JANEX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.80% compared to the category average of 1.20%. So, JANEX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, Janus Henderson Enterprise D ( JANEX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Janus Henderson Enterprise D ( JANEX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

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 JANEX too for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.