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Needham Small Cap Growth

MrRufflesMrRuffles
edited October 2021 in Fund Discussions
Wonder what others’ thoughts are on this fund which is classified by Lipper as Small-Cap Core and is a Great Owl over 3/5/10 years?

It has a five-year upside capture ratio of 112.86, downside capture ratio of 63.68, and max drawdown of 16.24%.
Max drawdown over its lifetime (since May 2002) is 35.75%.

The investor class NESGX is a bit pricey with an ER of 1.89 plus 12b-1 of .25 but its institutional class with ER of 1.22 is available at Schwab with a minimum of $2,500/$1,000 (IRA) and the usual TF.

Comments

  • TheShadowTheShadow
    edited November 2021
    I've looked into this fund as a domestic micro-cap growth fund as I don't need another small-cap growth fund.

    http://portfolios.morningstar.com/fund/summary?t=NESGX&region=usa&culture=en-US

    M* has given it five stars. It has been a top quarterly performer in the WSJ at least on one occasion that I can remember (one was the April 5, 2020 edition, "Hanging In: Stock Funds’ No. 1 Manager Gained 12.8%." There may have been a couple of other occasions, but I can neither find nor remember.

    If you don't have a small cap growth fund, this may be a good option as it has been a good performer for the last several years.

    From Needham:

    https://www.needhamfunds.com/commentary-insight/in-the-news/?news-category=all&news-topic=all&news-year=all

    https://www.needhamfunds.com/mutual-funds/small-cap-growth-fund/

    Another article:

    https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210311005645/en/Needham-Small-Cap-Growth-Fund-Wins-Two-2021-Refinitiv-Lipper-Fund-Awards
  • racqueteer
    Thanks for mentioning; I hadn't looked in a while. How about NEAIX? You'd have to be convinced about tech, though!
  • stillersstillers
    edited November 2021
    MSSMX and NESGX are the two Fido NTF SCG funds that always end up being my final two funds to select from after screening that cat.

    I owned MSSMX for part of its 2020/2021 heyday move. It started to crash in 1Q/2021 and I sold it well UP, and before too much damage was done, moving proceeds to ITOT. It continued to go DOWN and then sideways. I have recently re-opened a position in it but only 1/2 the value I previously held in it. VERY volatile fund but very rewarding LT. Expecting a BIG pop to the upside in the coming months.

    NESGX is more expensive, less volatile and similar TRs over standard interim periods, and a very worthy candidate in this cat.
  • MrRufflesMrRuffles
    racqueteer said:

    Thanks for mentioning; I hadn't looked in a while. How about NEAIX? You'd have to be convinced about tech, though!

    NEAIX is more growthy and multi-cap (it’s about evenly split between large, mid, and small caps) than I’m looking for. Has a higher max drawdown and lower upside/downside ratio.
    stillers said:

    MSSMX and NESGX are the two Fido NTF SCG funds that always end up being my final two funds to select from after screening that cat.

    NESGX is more expensive, less volatile and similar TRs over standard interim periods, and a very worthy candidate in this cat.

    The institutional class, NESIX, has a lower ER than MSSMX and Schwab only requires a minimum investment of $2500/$1000 with a TF. (Fido, unfortunately, has a $100K minimum.)

  • stillersstillers
    You made the important decision to invest. Selection of the fund is important but secondary. Timing is always the tricky part. FWIW, my take on that is we're headed higher in the near term (now-Feb/Mar) with chance of showers somewhere around next spring. So I've placed my bets. Your crystal ball and/or weather report may vary.
  • Simon
    edited November 2021
    MrRuffles said:

    The institutional class, NESIX, has a lower ER than MSSMX and Schwab only requires a minimum investment of $2500/$1000 with a TF. (Fido, unfortunately, has a $100K minimum.)

    NESIX is also available at T Rowe Price brokerage for a minimum of $1000 and NTF.

    Though I like the strategy very much, its 44 stock portfolio is not without the occasional risk. Its 3.23% weighting in Telos Corp suffered yesterday as their shares lost 28%.
  • MrRufflesMrRuffles


    NESIX is also available at T Rowe Price brokerage for a minimum of $1000 and NTF.

    Is there any way of seeing what funds TRP offers NTF without having a brokerage account?


  • Simon
    MrRuffles said:



    NESIX is also available at T Rowe Price brokerage for a minimum of $1000 and NTF.

    Is there any way of seeing what funds TRP offers NTF without having a brokerage account?


    That's a good question. Not to my knowledge, unfortunately. But in the last 12 months it seems TRP has expanded the number of funds available and increased considerably the number of funds available with NTF. This year I was able to buy three funds that were unavailable last year and two more that were available but had transaction fees. All five I was able to buy with NTF.

    You are welcome to PM me a list of funds (or note them below) and I will check for you. Certain fund families like Fidelity, Vanguard, and Dodge & Cox have always had a $35 fee at TRP.

  • Graust
    Thanks all….needed a growthier SC fund to add to my mutual-fund-only 403b. And this filled the need (bought NESGX). Bought smallish, and continue to add on small cap down days
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