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Is Columbia Global Technology Growth A (CTCAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Any investors hoping to find a Sector - Tech fund could think about starting with Columbia Global Technology Growth A (CTCAX - Free Report) . CTCAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Sector - Tech funds is an area filled with options, and CTCAX is one of them. Sector - Tech mutual funds allow investors to own a stake in a notoriously volatile sector with a much more diversified approach. Tech companies can be in any number of industries such as semiconductors, software, internet, networking just to name a few.
History of Fund/Manager
Columbia is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of CTCAX. Columbia Global Technology Growth A made its debut in November of 2002, and since then, CTCAX has accumulated about $347.30 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Rahul Narang, has been in charge of the fund since July of 2012.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 23.26%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 23.18%, 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, CTCAX's standard deviation comes in at 14.04%, compared to the category average of 10.03%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 13.28% compared to the category average of 9.72%. 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 the most recent bear market, CTCAX lost 56.92% and outperformed its peer group by 3.61%. This makes the fund a possibly better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 1.07, the fund is likely to be more 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. CTCAX's 5-year performance has produced a positive alpha of 8.59, which means managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Examining 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 94.99% of its assets in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $268.60 billion. Turnover is 28%, which means, on average, the fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.
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, CTCAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.26% compared to the category average of 1.35%. So, CTCAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,000, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Columbia Global Technology Growth A has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Columbia Global Technology Growth A looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Sector - Tech 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 CTCAX too for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.
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Is Columbia Global Technology Growth A (CTCAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Any investors hoping to find a Sector - Tech fund could think about starting with Columbia Global Technology Growth A (CTCAX - Free Report) . CTCAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Sector - Tech funds is an area filled with options, and CTCAX is one of them. Sector - Tech mutual funds allow investors to own a stake in a notoriously volatile sector with a much more diversified approach. Tech companies can be in any number of industries such as semiconductors, software, internet, networking just to name a few.
History of Fund/Manager
Columbia is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of CTCAX. Columbia Global Technology Growth A made its debut in November of 2002, and since then, CTCAX has accumulated about $347.30 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Rahul Narang, has been in charge of the fund since July of 2012.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 23.26%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 23.18%, 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, CTCAX's standard deviation comes in at 14.04%, compared to the category average of 10.03%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 13.28% compared to the category average of 9.72%. 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 the most recent bear market, CTCAX lost 56.92% and outperformed its peer group by 3.61%. This makes the fund a possibly better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 1.07, the fund is likely to be more 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. CTCAX's 5-year performance has produced a positive alpha of 8.59, which means managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Examining 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 94.99% of its assets in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $268.60 billion. Turnover is 28%, which means, on average, the fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.
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, CTCAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.26% compared to the category average of 1.35%. So, CTCAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,000, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Columbia Global Technology Growth A has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Columbia Global Technology Growth A looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Sector - Tech 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 CTCAX too for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.