3 American Century Mutual Funds to Navigate Market Volatility
Founded in 1958 by James E. Stowers Jr., American Century Investments is headquartered in Kansas City, MO, and managed around $268 billion in assets as of March 2025. American Century Mutual Funds hascarved out a strong presence in the investment world by focusing on long-term performance, sound research and a commitment to active management. The firm currently works out of nine global offices and has more than 1400 employees.
American Century offers a wide variety of mutual funds designed to meet the diverse needs of investors, including equity, fixed-income, asset allocation and alternative strategy funds. One of the key features of American Century Mutual Funds is its emphasis on consistent, risk-adjusted returns based on fundamental analysis and in-house research. This structure helps reduce emotional decision-making and provides a stable process regardless of market volatility. Many of their funds have attracted attention for strong performance, particularly those in growth and value equities.
Another distinguishing factor is the firm’s unique ownership structure. American Century Investments is largely owned by the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a biomedical research organization. This connection means that more than 40% of the firm’s profits go to fund medical research, making it one of the few major asset managers whose success directly supports scientific advancement. For socially conscious investors, this philanthropic mission offers an added incentive to invest with the firm.
Many of the firm’s funds are available with relatively low minimum investments and investors can choose from active or passively managed options. There is a growing focus on ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) principles. While the firm has not branded itself exclusively as a socially responsible investment house, it has made strides in integrating ESG factors into its research and portfolio construction processes.
Performance-wise, many of the firm’s funds have outpaced their benchmarks over the long term. Moreover, the firm maintains a strong fixed-income lineup, including municipal bond and short-duration bond funds that appeal to more conservative investors seeking stability and income. In an increasingly crowded mutual fund landscape, American Century Mutual Funds continues to maintain relevance through disciplined management and consistent results. For investors seeking a blend of performance, integrity and innovation, American Century offers a compelling suite of fund options.
Thus, investing in mutual funds from American Century may provide the much-needed stability and growth potential in a market that is expected to remain volatile for a while. Hence, astute investors should consider such funds at present. Mutual funds, in general, reduce transaction costs and diversify portfolios without an array of commission charges that are mostly associated with stock purchases (read more: Mutual Funds: Advantages, Disadvantages, and How They Make Investors Money).
We have thus selected three mutual funds that boast a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy), have positive three-year and five-year annualized returns and minimum initial investments within $5000, as well as carry a low expense ratio.
American Century One Choice Aggressive Investor Class AOGIX invests in other American Century Investments mutual funds that represent a variety of asset classes and investment styles. It allocates investments in equity securities, but maintains a portion of the fund’s assets in fixed-income securities and short-term investments.
Brian L. Garbe has been the lead manager of AOGIX since April 2020. The three top holdings for AOGIX are 12.7% in American Century Sustain, 11.6% in American Century Large and 8.6% in American Century Core.
AOGIX’s 3-year and 5-year annualized returns are 12.3% and 9.7%, respectively, and its net expense ratio is 0.01%. AOGIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1. To see how this fund performed compared to its category, and other 1 and 2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.
American Century Global Gold ACGGX primarily invests in companies that are engaged in mining, processing, fabricating, distributing, exploring for, or otherwise dealing in gold.
Mattia Bacciardi has been the lead manager of ACGGX since May 2025. The three top holdings for ACGGX are 5.7% in Agnico Eagle Mines, 5.7% in Zijin Mining and 4.9% in Wheaton Precious Metals.
ACGGX’s 3-year and 5-year annualized returns are 25.9% and 8%, respectively, and its net expense ratio is 0.90%. ACGGX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1.
American Century Focused Large Cap Value ALVDX invests primarily in securities of large capitalization companies. ALVDX advisors define large-cap companies as those with capitalization within the range of the Russell 1000 Index. For investment purposes, the portfolio managers look for companies whose stock price, according to them, is undervalued.
Adam J. Krenn has been the lead manager of ALVDX since December 2020. The three top holdings for ALVDX are 6.4% in Johnson & Johnson, 3.9% in JPMorgan Chase and 3.9% in Truist Financial.
ALVDX’s 3-year and 5-year annualized returns are 10.5% and 13%, respectively, and its net expense ratio is 0.49%. ALVDX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).