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Is T. Rowe Price Balanced Fund (RPBAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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On the lookout for an Allocation Balanced fund? Starting with T. Rowe Price Balanced Fund (RPBAX - Free Report) is one possibility. RPBAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Zacks' Allocation Balanced funds is an area filled with options, such as RPBAX. These funds like to invest in a variety of asset types, finding a balance between stocks, bonds, cash, and sometimes even precious metals and commodities; they are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. For investors, Allocation Balanced funds can provide an entry point into diversified mutual funds, and present core holding options for a portfolio of funds.
History of Fund/Manager
T. Rowe Price is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of RPBAX. T. Rowe Price Balanced Fund made its debut in December of 1939, and since then, RPBAX has accumulated about $3.68 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Charles M. Shriver who has been in charge of the fund since May of 2011.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 7.96%, 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 10.26%, 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 7.79%, the standard deviation of RPBAX over the past three years is 6.23%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 6.51% compared to the category average of 7.63%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. RPBAX lost 37.76% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 1.62%. These results could imply that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Even still, the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.63, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. RPBAX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.91, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, RPBAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.55% compared to the category average of 0.89%. RPBAX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $100.
Bottom Line
Overall, T. Rowe Price Balanced Fund ( RPBAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Your research on the Allocation Balanced segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer 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 T. Rowe Price Balanced Fund (RPBAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
On the lookout for an Allocation Balanced fund? Starting with T. Rowe Price Balanced Fund (RPBAX - Free Report) is one possibility. RPBAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Zacks' Allocation Balanced funds is an area filled with options, such as RPBAX. These funds like to invest in a variety of asset types, finding a balance between stocks, bonds, cash, and sometimes even precious metals and commodities; they are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. For investors, Allocation Balanced funds can provide an entry point into diversified mutual funds, and present core holding options for a portfolio of funds.
History of Fund/Manager
T. Rowe Price is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of RPBAX. T. Rowe Price Balanced Fund made its debut in December of 1939, and since then, RPBAX has accumulated about $3.68 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Charles M. Shriver who has been in charge of the fund since May of 2011.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 7.96%, 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 10.26%, 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 7.79%, the standard deviation of RPBAX over the past three years is 6.23%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 6.51% compared to the category average of 7.63%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. RPBAX lost 37.76% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 1.62%. These results could imply that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Even still, the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.63, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. RPBAX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.91, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, RPBAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.55% compared to the category average of 0.89%. RPBAX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $100.
Bottom Line
Overall, T. Rowe Price Balanced Fund ( RPBAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Your research on the Allocation Balanced segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer 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.