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Is Thrivent Aggressive Allocation A (TAAAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, consider Thrivent Aggressive Allocation A (TAAAX - Free Report) as a possibility. TAAAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Thrivent is based in Appleton, WI, and is the manager of TAAAX. The Thrivent Aggressive Allocation A made its debut in June of 2005 and TAAAX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.09 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 6.15%, and it sits 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 7.42%, 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. Over the past three years, TAAAX's standard deviation comes in at 20.27%, compared to the category average of 18.93%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 17.66% compared to the category average of 16.59%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.93, the fund is likely to be less 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. TAAAX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.58, demonstrating that 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.

Right now, 87.4% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, with an average market capitalization of $100.21 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  • Finance
  • Other
Turnover is 42%, which means, on average, the 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, TAAAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.93% compared to the category average of 0.86%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, TAAAX is actually more expensive than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, Thrivent Aggressive Allocation A ( TAAAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and higher 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. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.


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