There are plenty of choices in the Large Cap Growth category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that you should consider investigating is Fidelity Focused Stock Fund (FTQGX Quick QuoteFTQGX - Free Report) . FTQGX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We classify FTQGX in the Large Cap Growth category, an area rife with potential choices. Large Cap Growth funds invest in many large U.S. companies that are expected to grow much faster compared to other large-cap stocks. To be considered large-cap, companies must have a market cap over $10 billion.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is responsible for FTQGX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Focused Stock Fund debuted in November of 1996. Since then, FTQGX has accumulated assets of about $3.51 billion, according to the most recently available information. Stephen DuFour is the fund's current manager and has held that role since March of 2007.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 21.69%, 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 21.95%, 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 FTQGX over the past three years is 19.18% compared to the category average of 19.92%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.07% compared to the category average of 16.38%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.99, the fund is likely to be as volatile as the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. FTQGX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 4.29, 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, FTQGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.87% compared to the category average of 1.02%. So, FTQGX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Focused Stock Fund ( FTQGX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Large Cap Growth, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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.