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Is T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Value Fund (TRMCX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Have you been searching for a Mid Cap Value fund? You might want to begin with T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Value Fund (TRMCX - Free Report) . TRMCX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

The world of Mid Cap Value funds is an area filled with options, like TRMCX. Targeting medium-sized companies with a market cap between $2 billion and $10 billion, Mid Cap Value mutual funds more often than not choose stocks that hold solid value and income investment opportunities.

History of Fund/Manager

T. Rowe Price is responsible for TRMCX, and the company is based out of Baltimore, MD. T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Value Fund debuted in June of 1996. Since then, TRMCX has accumulated assets of about $11.15 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, David J. Wallack, has been in charge of the fund since December of 2000.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 11.57%, and is in the top 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 8.99%, 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. Over the past three years, TRMCX's standard deviation comes in at 10.61%, compared to the category average of 9.43%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 10.29% compared to the category average of 9.31%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. In TRMCX's case, the fund lost 47.46% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 3.97%. These results could imply that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. TRMCX has a 5-year beta of 0.91, which means it 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. TRMCX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.38, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Exploring 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.

Currently, this mutual fund is holding 92.99% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $13.79 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Finance
  2. Industrial Cyclical
  3. Other
  4. Non-Durable

With turnover at about 31.7%, this fund makes 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, TRMCX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.79% compared to the category average of 1.19%. From a cost perspective, TRMCX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, and each subsequent investment should be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Value Fund has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on TRMCX in the Mid Cap Value 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. 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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