If you're looking for a Small Cap Blend fund category, then a potential option is Conestoga Small Cap Investors (CCASX). CCASX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

CCASX is one of many Small Cap Blend funds to choose from. Small Cap Blend mutual funds allow investors a way to diversify their funds among various types of small-cap stocks. These funds seek companies with market capitalization of less than $2 billion, and aid in reducing volatility inherent in lower market cap stocks.

History of Fund/Manager

Conestoga is based in Radnor, PA, and is the manager of CCASX. Conestoga Small Cap Investors debuted in October of 2004. Since then, CCASX has accumulated assets of about $542.47 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Robert Mitchell, has been in charge of the fund since October of 2004.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 7.29%, and it sits in the bottom 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 3.88%, 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, CCASX's standard deviation comes in at 20.16%, compared to the category average of 18.22%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 20.25% compared to the category average of 19.75%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. CCASX has a 5-year beta of 1.03, which means it is likely to be as volatile as 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -6.99, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.