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Is Conestoga Small Cap Investors (CCASX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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There are plenty of choices in the Small Cap Blend category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that may not be worth investigating is Conestoga Small Cap Investors (CCASX - Free Report) . CCASX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We classify CCASX in the Small Cap Blend category, an area rife with potential choices. Small Cap Blend mutual funds usually target companies with a market capitalization of less than $2 billion. A small-cap blend mutual fund allows investors to diversify their funds among various types of small-cap stocks, which can help reduce the volatility inherent in lower market cap companies.
History of Fund/Manager
Conestoga is based in Radnor, PA, and is the manager of CCASX. The Conestoga Small Cap Investors made its debut in October of 2004 and CCASX has managed to accumulate roughly $701.67 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Robert Mitchell, has been in charge of the fund since October of 2004.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 16.76%, and is in the top 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 15.83%, which places it in the top 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. Compared to the category average of 11.26%, the standard deviation of CCASX over the past three years is 13.61%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 14.7% compared to the category average of 13.33%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, CCASX lost 42.31% and outperformed its peer group by 10.12%. This makes the fund a possibly better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, 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. CCASX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 0.28, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, CCASX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.10% compared to the category average of 1.12%. From a cost perspective, CCASX is actually cheaper than its peers.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Conestoga Small Cap Investors has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Small Cap Blend funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare CCASX to its peers 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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Is Conestoga Small Cap Investors (CCASX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Small Cap Blend category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that may not be worth investigating is Conestoga Small Cap Investors (CCASX - Free Report) . CCASX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We classify CCASX in the Small Cap Blend category, an area rife with potential choices. Small Cap Blend mutual funds usually target companies with a market capitalization of less than $2 billion. A small-cap blend mutual fund allows investors to diversify their funds among various types of small-cap stocks, which can help reduce the volatility inherent in lower market cap companies.
History of Fund/Manager
Conestoga is based in Radnor, PA, and is the manager of CCASX. The Conestoga Small Cap Investors made its debut in October of 2004 and CCASX has managed to accumulate roughly $701.67 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Robert Mitchell, has been in charge of the fund since October of 2004.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 16.76%, and is in the top 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 15.83%, which places it in the top 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. Compared to the category average of 11.26%, the standard deviation of CCASX over the past three years is 13.61%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 14.7% compared to the category average of 13.33%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, CCASX lost 42.31% and outperformed its peer group by 10.12%. This makes the fund a possibly better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, 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. CCASX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 0.28, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, CCASX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.10% compared to the category average of 1.12%. From a cost perspective, CCASX is actually cheaper than its peers.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Conestoga Small Cap Investors has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Small Cap Blend funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare CCASX to its peers 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.