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Is Dreyfus Technology Growth A (DTGRX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Having trouble finding a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? Well, Dreyfus Technology Growth A (DTGRX - Free Report) would not be a good potential starting point right now. DTGRX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

BNY Mellon is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of DTGRX. Dreyfus Technology Growth A made its debut in October of 1997, and since then, DTGRX has accumulated about $350.48 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Erik A. Swords is the fund's current manager and has held that role since December of 2008.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 19.17%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 18.59%, which places it in the bottom 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, DTGRX's standard deviation comes in at 24.11%, compared to the category average of 17.47%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 21.58% compared to the category average of 15.71%. 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. DTGRX has a 5-year beta of 1.12, which means it is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 1.97, which shows 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, DTGRX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.15% compared to the category average of 1.29%. From a cost perspective, DTGRX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, Dreyfus Technology Growth A ( DTGRX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on DTGRXin the Mutual Fund Equity Report category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank 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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