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Is Hartford Small Company HLS IA (HIASX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Having trouble finding a Small Cap Growth fund? Hartford Small Company HLS IA (HIASX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. HIASX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
HIASX is one of many different Small Cap Growth funds to choose from. Small Cap Growth mutual funds build portfolios around stocks with markets caps under $2 billion and large growth opportunities. Additionally, these portfolios typically highlight smaller companies in promising markets and industries.
History of Fund/Manager
HIASX finds itself in the Hartford family, based out of Woodbury, MN. Hartford Small Company HLS IA made its debut in December of 2001, and since then, HIASX has accumulated about $544.26 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Steven C. Angeli is the fund's current manager and has held that role since December of 2001.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 8.06%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 16.22%, 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. The standard deviation of HIASX over the past three years is 17.99% compared to the category average of 12.39%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 17.91% compared to the category average of 12.84%. 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. In the most recent bear market, HIASX lost 52.69% 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 1.3, 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. HIASX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -3.2, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 92.34% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $3.75 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Health
Other
Services
With turnover at about 100%, this fund makes more trades in a given year than the average of 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, HIASX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.78% compared to the category average of 1.22%. From a cost perspective, HIASX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Hartford Small Company HLS IA ( HIASX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, similar performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.
This could just be the start of your research on HIASXin the Small Cap Growth category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank 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 Hartford Small Company HLS IA (HIASX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Having trouble finding a Small Cap Growth fund? Hartford Small Company HLS IA (HIASX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. HIASX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
HIASX is one of many different Small Cap Growth funds to choose from. Small Cap Growth mutual funds build portfolios around stocks with markets caps under $2 billion and large growth opportunities. Additionally, these portfolios typically highlight smaller companies in promising markets and industries.
History of Fund/Manager
HIASX finds itself in the Hartford family, based out of Woodbury, MN. Hartford Small Company HLS IA made its debut in December of 2001, and since then, HIASX has accumulated about $544.26 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Steven C. Angeli is the fund's current manager and has held that role since December of 2001.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 8.06%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 16.22%, 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. The standard deviation of HIASX over the past three years is 17.99% compared to the category average of 12.39%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 17.91% compared to the category average of 12.84%. 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. In the most recent bear market, HIASX lost 52.69% 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 1.3, 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. HIASX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -3.2, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 92.34% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $3.75 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Health
- Other
- Services
With turnover at about 100%, this fund makes more trades in a given year than the average of 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, HIASX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.78% compared to the category average of 1.22%. From a cost perspective, HIASX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Hartford Small Company HLS IA ( HIASX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, similar performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.
This could just be the start of your research on HIASXin the Small Cap Growth category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank 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.