Is Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement (HNACX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

If you've been stuck searching for Large Cap Growth funds, consider Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement (HNACX) as a possibility. HNACX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We classify HNACX 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.

History of Fund/Manager

Harbor Funds is based in Chicago, IL, and is the manager of HNACX. Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement made its debut in March of 2016, and since then, HNACX has accumulated about $9.55 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 23.08%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 23.66%, 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. HNACX's standard deviation over the past three years is 21.99% compared to the category average of 16.13%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 18.22% compared to the category average of 13.5%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.09, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 5.03. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, HNACX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.58% compared to the category average of 1.03%. So, HNACX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1 million; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Harbor Capital Appreciation Retirement ( HNACX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Large Cap Growth, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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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