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Is Janus Henderson Triton T (JATTX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Have you been searching for a Small Cap Growth fund? You might want to begin with Janus Henderson Triton T (JATTX - Free Report) . JATTX has 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 Small Cap Growth funds is an area filled with options, such as JATTX. These funds tend to create their portfolios around stocks that sport large growth opportunities and market capitalization of less than $2 billion. The companies in these portfolios are usually on the smaller side, and are in up-and-coming industries and markets.

History of Fund/Manager

JATTX finds itself in the Janus Fund family, based out of Boston, MA. Janus Henderson Triton T debuted in February of 2005. Since then, JATTX has accumulated assets of about $3.06 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Jonathan D. Coleman, has been in charge of the fund since May of 2013.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 13.42%, and it sits 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 17.34%, 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, JATTX's standard deviation comes in at 14.5%, compared to the category average of 9.75%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 14.53% compared to the category average of 10.13%. This makes the fund more 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. In the most recent bear market, JATTX lost 45.52% and outperformed its peer group by 7.52%. This makes the fund a possibly better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.

Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 1.16, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. JATTX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 0.34, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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.

Right now, 96.08% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $5.03 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Technology
  2. Other
  3. Industrial Cyclical
  4. Health
With turnover at about 21%, this fund makes fewer trades than the average comparable fund.

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, JATTX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.91% compared to the category average of 1.22%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, JATTX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Janus Henderson Triton T ( JATTX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Small Cap Growth, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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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