Is T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Growth Adviser (PAMCX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Any investors hoping to find a Mid Cap Growth fund could think about starting with T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Growth Adviser (PAMCX). PAMCX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

We note that PAMCX is a Mid Cap Growth fund, and this area is also loaded with many different options. Companies are usually considered growth stocks when they consistently report notable sales and/or earnings growth. Thus, Mid Cap Growth funds pick stocks–usually companies with a market cap between $2 billion and $10 billion–that demonstrate extensive growth opportunities for investors compared to their peers.

PAMCX finds itself in the T. Rowe Price family, based out of Baltimore, MD. T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Growth Adviser made its debut in June of 1992, and since then, PAMCX has accumulated about $200 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. A team of investment professionals is the fund’s current manager.

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. PAMCX has a 5-year annualized total return of 11.66% 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 1.87%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

It is important to note that the product’s returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund’s [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.

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. Compared to the category average of 15.67%, the standard deviation of PAMCX over the past three years is 18.71%. The fund’s standard deviation over the past 5 years is 18.74% compared to the category average of 16.72%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

With a 5-year beta of 1.03, the fund is likely to be as volatile as 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -6.07, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.