Yahoo Finance Is Driehaus International Small Cap Growth (DRIOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Equity Report fund category, Driehaus International Small Cap Growth (DRIOX) could be a potential option. DRIOX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
DRIOX is a part of the Driehaus family of funds, a company based out of Chicago, IL. Driehaus International Small Cap Growth debuted in September of 2007. Since then, DRIOX has accumulated assets of about $206.17 million, according to the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 3.82%, and it sits 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 11.45%, 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, DRIOX's standard deviation comes in at 19.48%, compared to the category average of 24.44%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 19.89% compared to the category average of 21.08%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.96, which means it is hypothetically less 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -6.25. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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, DRIOX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.16% compared to the category average of 1.13%. So, DRIOX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $10,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $2,000.
Bottom Line
Overall, Driehaus International Small Cap Growth ( DRIOX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on DRIOXin the Mutual Fund Equity Report 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. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.
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