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Is TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Retirement (TRGIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Have you been searching for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You might want to begin with TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Retirement (TRGIX - Free Report) . TRGIX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

TIAA-CREF is responsible for TRGIX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Retirement made its debut in December of 2002, and since then, TRGIX has accumulated about $577.09 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Susan Kempler, has been in charge of the fund since March of 2006.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 14.42%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 16.82%, 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. Compared to the category average of 15.12%, the standard deviation of TRGIX over the past three years is 18.45%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 16.65% compared to the category average of 13.41%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. TRGIX has a 5-year beta of 1.04, which means it is likely to be more volatile than 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. With a negative alpha of -1.84, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Examining 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.

The mutual fund currently has 95.17% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $434 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Technology
  2. Finance
Turnover is 61%, which means, on average, the fund makes more trades in a given year than the average of comparable funds.

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, TRGIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.65% compared to the category average of 1%. So, TRGIX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Retirement ( TRGIX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Retirement ( TRGIX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about TRGIX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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.


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