Is Janus Henderson US Managed Volatilty T (JRSTX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, it would not be wise to start your search with Janus Henderson US Managed Volatilty T (JRSTX). JRSTX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

JRSTX is a part of the Janus Fund family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. The Janus Henderson US Managed Volatilty T made its debut in July of 2009 and JRSTX has managed to accumulate roughly $135.42 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Ashwin Alankar who has been in charge of the fund since June of 2022.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 9.14%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.67%, which places it in the bottom 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. The standard deviation of JRSTX over the past three years is 18.61% compared to the category average of 15.82%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 16.22% compared to the category average of 14.19%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.86, the fund is likely to be less volatile than 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 -1.77, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, JRSTX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.79% compared to the category average of 0.92%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, JRSTX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Janus Henderson US Managed Volatilty T ( JRSTX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Janus Henderson US Managed Volatilty T ( JRSTX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

Your research on the Mutual Fund Equity Report segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.

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