Is Janus Henderson Global Life Science T (JAGLX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund could think about starting with Janus Henderson Global Life Science T (JAGLX). JAGLX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Janus Fund is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of JAGLX. Since Janus Henderson Global Life Science T made its debut in December of 1998, JAGLX has garnered more than $1.17 billion in assets. The fund's current manager, Andrew Acker, has been in charge of the fund since May of 2007.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 10.41%, and is 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 10.45%, which places it in the middle 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, JAGLX's standard deviation comes in at 17.21%, compared to the category average of 15.82%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 16.44% compared to the category average of 14.32%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.77, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. JAGLX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 0.49, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, JAGLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.90% compared to the category average of 1.30%. So, JAGLX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Janus Henderson Global Life Science T ( JAGLX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Janus Henderson Global Life Science T ( JAGLX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Equity Report area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into JAGLX too for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.

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