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Is Putnam Global Technology Y (PGTYX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Having trouble finding a Sector - Tech fund? Putnam Global Technology Y (PGTYX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. PGTYX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

The world of Sector - Tech funds is an area filled with options, and PGTYX is one of them. Sector - Tech mutual funds allow investors to own a stake in a notoriously volatile sector with a much more diversified approach. Tech companies can be in any number of industries such as semiconductors, software, internet, networking just to name a few.

History of Fund/Manager

Putnam Funds is based in Canton, MA, and is the manager of PGTYX. Putnam Global Technology Y made its debut in January of 2009, and since then, PGTYX has accumulated about $459.32 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Di Yao is the fund's current manager and has held that role since December of 2012.

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 22.66%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 8.56%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.

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. Compared to the category average of 16.5%, the standard deviation of PGTYX over the past three years is 23.01%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 22.98% compared to the category average of 17.25%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.08, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. 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. PGTYX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 6.55, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, PGTYX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.86% compared to the category average of 1.01%. From a cost perspective, PGTYX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Overall, Putnam Global Technology Y ( PGTYX ) 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.

This could just be the start of your research on PGTYXin the Sector - Tech 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. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.


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