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Is Columbia Global Technology Growth Z (CMTFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Equity Report fund category, Columbia Global Technology Growth Z (CMTFX - Free Report) could be a potential option. CMTFX has 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

Columbia is based in Kansas City, MO, and is the manager of CMTFX. The Columbia Global Technology Growth Z made its debut in November of 2000 and CMTFX has managed to accumulate roughly $997.12 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Rahul Narang is the fund's current manager and has held that role since July of 2012.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. CMTFX has a 5-year annualized total return of 17.71% and is in the top 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 15.96%, 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. CMTFX's standard deviation over the past three years is 23.03% compared to the category average of 16.91%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 21.1% compared to the category average of 15.24%. 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. CMTFX 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 3.54, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.

Currently, this mutual fund is holding 98.6% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $482.06 billion. With turnover at about 12%, this fund makes fewer trades than the average comparable fund.

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, CMTFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.92% compared to the category average of 1.30%. So, CMTFX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $0; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Columbia Global Technology Growth Z ( CMTFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Your research on the Mutual Fund Equity Report 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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