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Is Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S (TAAIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Looking for a Allocation Balanced fund? You may want to consider Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S (TAAIX - Free Report) as a possible option. TAAIX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

TAAIX is classified in the Allocation Balanced segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Here, investors are able to get a good head start with diversified mutual funds, and play around with core holding options for a portfolio of funds. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation.

History of Fund/Manager

Thrivent is responsible for TAAIX, and the company is based out of Appleton, WI. Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S debuted in June of 2005. Since then, TAAIX has accumulated assets of about $1.87 billion, according to 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 carries a 5-year annualized total return of 10.01%, 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 14.89%, 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, TAAIX's standard deviation comes in at 11.21%, compared to the category average of 11.9%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 13.84% compared to the category average of 13.47%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. TAAIX has a 5-year beta of 0.9, which means it 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. TAAIX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -3.38, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, TAAIX is a no load fund and it has an expense ratio of 0.75%.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,000, and each subsequent investment should 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

With a rank of 'hold' we aren't getting a good signal one way or another on TAAIX. That is why it might be a good idea to consider other items, such as the fund's expense ratio of .75%, and how this compares to other potential options being considered for investment. If cheaper, it might make a decent choice, but a more expensive fund might be worth avoiding. Just make sure to pay attention to its rank in case it shifts in the near future.

This could just be the start of your research on TAAIX in the Allocation Balanced 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 want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.

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