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Is American Century Income & Growth Investor (BIGRX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund could think about starting with American Century Income & Growth Investor (BIGRX - Free Report) . BIGRX bears 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

American Century is based in Kansas City, MO, and is the manager of BIGRX. American Century Income & Growth Investor made its debut in December of 1990, and since then, BIGRX has accumulated about $1.63 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Yulin Long who has been in charge of the fund since August of 2020.

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 6.96%, and it sits 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 14.93%, 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. Over the past three years, BIGRX's standard deviation comes in at 18.13%, compared to the category average of 17.81%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 18.02% compared to the category average of 15.77%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.92, the fund is likely to be less 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. BIGRX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -3.05, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Exploring 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.

As of the last filing date, the mutual fund has 94.1% of its assets in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $92.38 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  • Finance
  • Industrial Cyclical
  • Technology
  • Retail Trade
With turnover at about 234%, this fund is making 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, BIGRX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.66% compared to the category average of 0.91%. BIGRX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

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

Bottom Line

Overall, American Century Income & Growth Investor ( BIGRX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, American Century Income & Growth Investor ( BIGRX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about BIGRX? 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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