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Is Invesco Comstock A (ACSTX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Large Cap Value fund seekers should not consider taking a look at Invesco Comstock A (ACSTX - Free Report) at this time. ACSTX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
ACSTX is one of many Large Cap Value mutual funds to choose from. These funds invest in equities with a market capitalization of $10 billion or more, but whose share prices do not reflect their intrinsic value. This strategy can often produce low P/E ratios and high dividend yields; growth levels; however, growth levels are oftentimes cut back. These funds'high growth opportunities are slowed even more since large-cap stocks are usually in more stable industries with low to moderate growth prospects. Thus, investors interested in a stable income stream fund Large Cap Value funds very appealing.
History of Fund/Manager
ACSTX is a part of the Invesco family of funds, a company based out of Kansas City, MO. Since Invesco Comstock A made its debut in October of 1968, ACSTX has garnered more than $4.06 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. ACSTX has a 5-year annualized total return of -0.55% and is 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 -4.91%, 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. The standard deviation of ACSTX over the past three years is 20.04% compared to the category average of 10.55%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 17.99% compared to the category average of 10.36%. 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, ACSTX lost 53.12% and underperformed comparable funds by 2%. These results could imply that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, investors should also note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.24, which means it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -7.58, which shows that 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 primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.
This fund is currently holding about 98.17% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $127 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Finance
Energy
Technology
Turnover is 23%, which means this fund makes 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, ACSTX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.80% compared to the category average of 1%. So, ACSTX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, Invesco Comstock A ( ACSTX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Large Cap Value 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 ACSTX too 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 Invesco Comstock A (ACSTX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Large Cap Value fund seekers should not consider taking a look at Invesco Comstock A (ACSTX - Free Report) at this time. ACSTX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
ACSTX is one of many Large Cap Value mutual funds to choose from. These funds invest in equities with a market capitalization of $10 billion or more, but whose share prices do not reflect their intrinsic value. This strategy can often produce low P/E ratios and high dividend yields; growth levels; however, growth levels are oftentimes cut back. These funds'high growth opportunities are slowed even more since large-cap stocks are usually in more stable industries with low to moderate growth prospects. Thus, investors interested in a stable income stream fund Large Cap Value funds very appealing.
History of Fund/Manager
ACSTX is a part of the Invesco family of funds, a company based out of Kansas City, MO. Since Invesco Comstock A made its debut in October of 1968, ACSTX has garnered more than $4.06 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. ACSTX has a 5-year annualized total return of -0.55% and is 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 -4.91%, 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. The standard deviation of ACSTX over the past three years is 20.04% compared to the category average of 10.55%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 17.99% compared to the category average of 10.36%. 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, ACSTX lost 53.12% and underperformed comparable funds by 2%. These results could imply that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, investors should also note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.24, which means it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -7.58, which shows that 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 primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.
This fund is currently holding about 98.17% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $127 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Finance
- Energy
- Technology
Turnover is 23%, which means this fund makes 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, ACSTX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.80% compared to the category average of 1%. So, ACSTX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, Invesco Comstock A ( ACSTX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Large Cap Value 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 ACSTX too 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.