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Is Franklin Growth A (FKGRX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you've been stuck searching for Large Cap Growth funds, consider Franklin Growth A (FKGRX - Free Report) as a possibility. FKGRX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We classify FKGRX in the Large Cap Growth category, an area rife with potential choices. Large Cap Growth funds invest in many large U.S. companies that are expected to grow much faster compared to other large-cap stocks. To be considered large-cap, companies must have a market cap over $10 billion.
History of Fund/Manager
Franklin Templeton is based in San Mateo, CA, and is the manager of FKGRX. Franklin Growth A debuted in March of 1948. Since then, FKGRX has accumulated assets of about $8.65 billion, according to the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. FKGRX has a 5-year annualized total return of 14.48% and is 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 11.39%, which places it in the middle 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. Over the past three years, FKGRX's standard deviation comes in at 10.12%, compared to the category average of 9.36%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 9.52% compared to the category average of 9.19%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
One cannot ignore the volatility of this segment, however, as it is always important for investors to remember the downside to any potential investment. In FKGRX's case, the fund lost 47.26% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 1.76%. This makes the fund a possibly better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.93, the fund is likely to be less 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 1.95. 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 primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.
As of the last filing date, the mutual fund has 97.35% of its assets in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $158.55 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Industrial Cyclical
Health
With turnover at about 5.6%, this fund is making fewer trades than comparable funds.
Expenses
For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, FKGRX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.87% compared to the category average of 1.11%. So, FKGRX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Franklin Growth A has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average 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 FKGRX in the Large Cap Growth 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.
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Is Franklin Growth A (FKGRX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you've been stuck searching for Large Cap Growth funds, consider Franklin Growth A (FKGRX - Free Report) as a possibility. FKGRX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We classify FKGRX in the Large Cap Growth category, an area rife with potential choices. Large Cap Growth funds invest in many large U.S. companies that are expected to grow much faster compared to other large-cap stocks. To be considered large-cap, companies must have a market cap over $10 billion.
History of Fund/Manager
Franklin Templeton is based in San Mateo, CA, and is the manager of FKGRX. Franklin Growth A debuted in March of 1948. Since then, FKGRX has accumulated assets of about $8.65 billion, according to the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. FKGRX has a 5-year annualized total return of 14.48% and is 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 11.39%, which places it in the middle 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. Over the past three years, FKGRX's standard deviation comes in at 10.12%, compared to the category average of 9.36%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 9.52% compared to the category average of 9.19%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
One cannot ignore the volatility of this segment, however, as it is always important for investors to remember the downside to any potential investment. In FKGRX's case, the fund lost 47.26% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 1.76%. This makes the fund a possibly better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.93, the fund is likely to be less 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 1.95. 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 primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.
As of the last filing date, the mutual fund has 97.35% of its assets in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $158.55 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
With turnover at about 5.6%, this fund is making fewer trades than comparable funds.
Expenses
For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, FKGRX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.87% compared to the category average of 1.11%. So, FKGRX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Franklin Growth A has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average 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 FKGRX in the Large Cap Growth 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.