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Is Deutsche Core Equity Fund S (SCDGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Mutual Fund Equity Report fund seekers should consider taking a look at Deutsche Core Equity Fund S (SCDGX - Free Report) . SCDGX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

DWS is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of SCDGX. Deutsche Core Equity Fund S debuted in December of 1961. Since then, SCDGX has accumulated assets of about $3.05 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 10.24%, 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 9.38%, 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. SCDGX's standard deviation over the past three years is 18.93% compared to the category average of 15.5%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 17.26% compared to the category average of 13.89%. 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 1.01, which means it is hypothetically as volatile as 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. SCDGX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.98, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Investigating 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 primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.

The mutual fund currently has 98.84% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $408.85 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Technology
  2. Finance
Turnover is 28%, which means, on average, the fund makes fewer trades than its comparable peers.

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, SCDGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.55% compared to the category average of 0.92%. So, SCDGX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, Deutsche Core Equity Fund S ( SCDGX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about SCDGX? 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. 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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