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Is Scout Mid Cap Fund (UMBMX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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On the lookout for a Mid Cap Growth fund? Starting with Scout Mid Cap Fund (UMBMX - Free Report) is one possibility. UMBMX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
Zacks categorizes UMBMX 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
UMBMX finds itself in the Eagle Funds family, based out of St. Petersburg, FL. Scout Mid Cap Fund made its debut in November of 2006, and since then, UMBMX has accumulated about $4.18 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. UMBMX has a 5-year annualized total return of 17.03% and it sits 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 14.78%, 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. Over the past three years, UMBMX's standard deviation comes in at 21.91%, compared to the category average of 16.19%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 17.72% compared to the category average of 13.55%. 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 1.11, 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -0.59, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Exploring 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 93.78% of its assets in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $16.88 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Industrial Cyclical
Finance
Non-Durable
Retail Trade
Turnover is about 109%, so those in charge of the fund make more trades per year than the comparable average.
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, UMBMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.97% compared to the category average of 1.18%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, UMBMX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $10,000 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Scout Mid Cap Fund ( UMBMX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Scout Mid Cap Fund ( UMBMX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Your research on the Mid Cap Growth 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. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.
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Is Scout Mid Cap Fund (UMBMX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
On the lookout for a Mid Cap Growth fund? Starting with Scout Mid Cap Fund (UMBMX - Free Report) is one possibility. UMBMX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
Zacks categorizes UMBMX 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
UMBMX finds itself in the Eagle Funds family, based out of St. Petersburg, FL. Scout Mid Cap Fund made its debut in November of 2006, and since then, UMBMX has accumulated about $4.18 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. UMBMX has a 5-year annualized total return of 17.03% and it sits 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 14.78%, 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. Over the past three years, UMBMX's standard deviation comes in at 21.91%, compared to the category average of 16.19%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 17.72% compared to the category average of 13.55%. 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 1.11, 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -0.59, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Exploring 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 93.78% of its assets in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $16.88 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Industrial Cyclical
- Finance
- Non-Durable
- Retail Trade
Turnover is about 109%, so those in charge of the fund make more trades per year than the comparable average.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, UMBMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.97% compared to the category average of 1.18%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, UMBMX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $10,000 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Scout Mid Cap Fund ( UMBMX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Scout Mid Cap Fund ( UMBMX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Your research on the Mid Cap Growth 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. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.