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Is American Funds Cap World Growth & Income R3 (RWICX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Global - Equity funds, a place to start could be American Funds Cap World Growth & Income R3 (RWICX - Free Report) . RWICX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

RWICX is classified in the Global - Equity segment by Zacks, an area full of possibilities. Even though Global - Equity mutual funds invest in bigger markets like the U.S., Europe, and Japan, these kinds of funds aren't limited by geography. Rather, they offer an investment strategy that utilizes the global economy to provide stable returns.

History of Fund/Manager

RWICX is a part of the American Funds family of funds, a company based out of Los Angeles, CA. The American Funds Cap World Growth & Income R3 made its debut in March of 1993 and RWICX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.04 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 11.08%, and it sits in the middle 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 15.24%, 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. Over the past three years, RWICX's standard deviation comes in at 14.24%, compared to the category average of 14.01%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 15.14% compared to the category average of 13.54%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.88, 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. RWICX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.8, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, RWICX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.06% compared to the category average of 0.95%. From a cost perspective, RWICX is actually more expensive than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $250, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

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

Bottom Line

Overall, even with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, American Funds Cap World Growth & Income R3 ( RWICX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Global - Equity area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into RWICX too for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.


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