Is T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth Fund (TRBCX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

There are plenty of choices in the Large Cap Growth category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth Fund (TRBCX). TRBCX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

We classify TRBCX in the Large Cap Growth category, an area rife with potential choices. Large Cap Growth funds invest in many large U.S. companies that are expected to grow much faster compared to other large-cap stocks. To be considered large-cap, companies must have a market cap over $10 billion.

TRBCX is a part of the T. Rowe Price family of funds, a company based out of Baltimore, MD. The T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth Fund made its debut in June of 1993 and TRBCX has managed to accumulate roughly $32.17 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Paul Greene who has been in charge of the fund since October of 2021.

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 12.78%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 15.63%, 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. Over the past three years, TRBCX’s standard deviation comes in at 19.74%, compared to the category average of 15.4%. The fund’s standard deviation over the past 5 years is 20.16% compared to the category average of 16.34%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.13, so it is likely going to be more 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. TRBCX’s 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -3.39, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.