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Is T. Rowe Price Global Technology (PRGTX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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On the lookout for a Sector - Tech fund? Starting with T. Rowe Price Global Technology (PRGTX - Free Report) should not be a possibility at this time. PRGTX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), 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 PRGTX 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
PRGTX finds itself in the T. Rowe Price family, based out of Baltimore, MD. The T. Rowe Price Global Technology made its debut in September of 2000 and PRGTX has managed to accumulate roughly $5.97 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. Joshua K. Spencer is the fund's current manager and has held that role since June of 2012.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 19.24%, and is 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 14.56%, 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, PRGTX's standard deviation comes in at 18.03%, compared to the category average of 11.97%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 16.88% compared to the category average of 12.01%. 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, PRGTX lost 52.97% and outperformed its peer group by 0.34%. This means that the fund could possibly be a better choice than its peers during a down market environment.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 1.29, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 5.1. This means 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, PRGTX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.90% compared to the category average of 1.35%. From a cost perspective, PRGTX 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 Global Technology ( PRGTX ) 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.
Your research on the Sector - Tech 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 Global Technology (PRGTX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
On the lookout for a Sector - Tech fund? Starting with T. Rowe Price Global Technology (PRGTX - Free Report) should not be a possibility at this time. PRGTX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), 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 PRGTX 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
PRGTX finds itself in the T. Rowe Price family, based out of Baltimore, MD. The T. Rowe Price Global Technology made its debut in September of 2000 and PRGTX has managed to accumulate roughly $5.97 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. Joshua K. Spencer is the fund's current manager and has held that role since June of 2012.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 19.24%, and is 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 14.56%, 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, PRGTX's standard deviation comes in at 18.03%, compared to the category average of 11.97%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 16.88% compared to the category average of 12.01%. 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, PRGTX lost 52.97% and outperformed its peer group by 0.34%. This means that the fund could possibly be a better choice than its peers during a down market environment.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 1.29, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 5.1. This means 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, PRGTX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.90% compared to the category average of 1.35%. From a cost perspective, PRGTX 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 Global Technology ( PRGTX ) 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.
Your research on the Sector - Tech 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.