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Is PRIMECAP Odyssey Stock Fund (POSKX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Large Cap Growth funds, it would not be wise to start your search with PRIMECAP Odyssey Stock Fund (POSKX - Free Report) . POSKX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

POSKX is classified in the Large Cap Growth segment by Zacks, an area full of possibilities. Companies are usually considered to be large-cap if their stock market valuation is more than $10 billion. Large Cap Growth mutual funds invest in many large U.S. firms that are projected to grow at a faster rate than their large-cap peers.

History of Fund/Manager

Primecap Odyssey is based in Pasadena, CA, and is the manager of POSKX. Since PRIMECAP Odyssey Stock Fund made its debut in November of 2004, POSKX has garnered more than $10.24 billion in assets. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 11.08%, and is in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 16.6%, 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, POSKX's standard deviation comes in at 13.04%, compared to the category average of 11.5%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 12.42% compared to the category average of 11.41%. 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. POSKX lost 45.41% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 3.92%. This means that the fund could possibly be a better choice than its peers during a down market environment.

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.07, so it is likely going to be more 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. With a negative alpha of -0.16, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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.

This fund is currently holding about 87.75% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $103.31 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Technology
  2. Industrial Cyclical
  3. Finance
  4. Health
This fund's turnover is about 5%, so the fund managers are making fewer trades than the average comparable fund.

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, POSKX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.64% compared to the category average of 0.96%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, POSKX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, PRIMECAP Odyssey Stock Fund ( POSKX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.

For additional information on the Large Cap Growth 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 POSKX too for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.


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