Any investors hoping to find a Small Cap Growth fund could think about starting with ClearBridge Small Cap Growth A (SASMX Quick QuoteSASMX - Free Report) . SASMX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

SASMX 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

Franklin Templeton is based in San Mateo, CA, and is the manager of SASMX. ClearBridge Small Cap Growth A made its debut in August of 1999, and since then, SASMX has accumulated about $993 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Jeffrey J. Russell who has been in charge of the fund since March of 2007.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. SASMX has a 5-year annualized total return of 25.52% and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 24.88%, 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. Compared to the category average of 16.45%, the standard deviation of SASMX over the past three years is 25.13%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 20.22% compared to the category average of 13.66%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.18, the fund is likely to be more volatile than 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. SASMX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 5.54, demonstrating that 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, SASMX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.17% compared to the category average of 1.21%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, SASMX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, ClearBridge Small Cap Growth A ( SASMX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Small 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 SASMX 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.