On the lookout for a Sector – Tech fund? Starting with T. Rowe Price Communications & Technology Fund (PRMTX) is one possibility. PRMTX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
PRMTX is part of the Sector – Tech category, which boasts an array of different possible selections. With a much more diversified approach, Sector – Tech mutual funds give investors a way to own a stake in a notoriously risky sector. Tech companies are in various industries like semiconductors, software, internet, and networking, among others.
History of Fund/Manager
T. Rowe Price is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of PRMTX. T. Rowe Price Communications & Technology Fund debuted in July of 1997. Since then, PRMTX has accumulated assets of about $6.21 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Daniel Shear who has been in charge of the fund since January of 2025.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 5.74%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 21.81%, 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. Compared to the category average of 13.8%, the standard deviation of PRMTX over the past three years is 14.83%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 18.93% compared to the category average of 15.29%. 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. PRMTX has a 5-year beta of 1.08, which means it is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio’s performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -8.37, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.