Have you been searching for a Small Cap Growth fund? You might want to begin with BNY Mellon Small Cap Growth I (SSETX). SSETX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

SSETX is one of many different Small Cap Growth funds to choose from. Small Cap Growth mutual funds build portfolios around stocks with markets caps under $2 billion and large growth opportunities. Additionally, these portfolios typically highlight smaller companies in promising markets and industries.

History of Fund/Manager

BNY Mellon is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of SSETX. Since BNY Mellon Small Cap Growth I made its debut in December of 1996, SSETX has garnered more than $7.69 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by Karen Miki Behr who has been in charge of the fund since September of 2021.

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 6.61%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 3.77%, 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. SSETX's standard deviation over the past three years is 21.35% compared to the category average of 17.77%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 23.15% compared to the category average of 17.77%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.14, so it is likely going to be more volatile than 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. SSETX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -8.35, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.