Is Franklin Corefolio Allocation A (FTCOX) A Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Allocation Balanced fund seekers should consider taking a look at Franklin Corefolio Allocation A (FTCOX). FTCOX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Franklin Templeton is based in San Mateo, CA, and is the manager of FTCOX. The Franklin Corefolio Allocation A made its debut in August of 2003 and FTCOX has managed to accumulate roughly $599.54 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, T. Anthony Coffey, has been in charge of the fund since August of 2003.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 12.46%, and it sits 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 11.29%, 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. The standard deviation of FTCOX over the past three years is 10.67% compared to the category average of 8.01%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 9.89% compared to the category average of 6.55%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. FTCOX lost 51.81% in the most recent bear market and underperformed its peer group by 15.63%. This might suggest that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a bear market.

Even still, the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.99, so investors should note that it is hypothetically as volatile as the market at large. 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. FTCOX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -2.78, which means 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, FTCOX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.43% compared to the category average of 0.90%. FTCOX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Franklin Corefolio Allocation A 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.

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