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Is Columbia Global Technology Growth A (CTCAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you have been looking for Sector - Tech funds, a place to start could be Columbia Global Technology Growth A (CTCAX - Free Report) . CTCAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
CTCAX is part of the Sector - Tech category, which boasts an array of different possible selections. With a much more diversified approach, Sector - Tech mutual funds give investors a way to own a stake in a notoriously risky sector. Tech companies are in various industries like semiconductors, software, internet, and networking, among others.
History of Fund/Manager
CTCAX finds itself in the Columbia family, based out of Kansas City, MO. The Columbia Global Technology Growth A made its debut in November of 2002 and CTCAX has managed to accumulate roughly $913.57 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Rahul Narang who has been in charge of the fund since July of 2012.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. CTCAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 19.34% and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 14.58%, which places it in the top 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. Over the past three years, CTCAX's standard deviation comes in at 23.51%, compared to the category average of 16.58%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 22.8% compared to the category average of 17.31%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 1.14, 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 2.79. This means 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 77.16% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, with an average market capitalization of $585.20 billion. Turnover is 7%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.
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, CTCAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.17% compared to the category average of 1.01%. From a cost perspective, CTCAX is actually more expensive than its peers.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,000, investors should also note that 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, even with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Columbia Global Technology Growth A ( CTCAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential choice for investors right now.
Your research on the Sector - Tech 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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Is Columbia Global Technology Growth A (CTCAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you have been looking for Sector - Tech funds, a place to start could be Columbia Global Technology Growth A (CTCAX - Free Report) . CTCAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
CTCAX is part of the Sector - Tech category, which boasts an array of different possible selections. With a much more diversified approach, Sector - Tech mutual funds give investors a way to own a stake in a notoriously risky sector. Tech companies are in various industries like semiconductors, software, internet, and networking, among others.
History of Fund/Manager
CTCAX finds itself in the Columbia family, based out of Kansas City, MO. The Columbia Global Technology Growth A made its debut in November of 2002 and CTCAX has managed to accumulate roughly $913.57 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Rahul Narang who has been in charge of the fund since July of 2012.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. CTCAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 19.34% and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 14.58%, which places it in the top 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. Over the past three years, CTCAX's standard deviation comes in at 23.51%, compared to the category average of 16.58%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 22.8% compared to the category average of 17.31%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 1.14, 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 2.79. This means 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 77.16% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, with an average market capitalization of $585.20 billion. Turnover is 7%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.
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, CTCAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.17% compared to the category average of 1.01%. From a cost perspective, CTCAX is actually more expensive than its peers.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,000, investors should also note that 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, even with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Columbia Global Technology Growth A ( CTCAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential choice for investors right now.
Your research on the Sector - Tech 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.