Large-cap growth mutual funds provide excellent opportunities to investors who choose long-term capital appreciation over dividend payouts and are also interested in steady returns. Funds having significant exposure to growth securities are believed to provide higher returns. This is because growth stocks are high quality stocks with the potential for revenue and earnings growth at a rate faster than the industry average. Though growth funds may experience more fluctuations than the other fund classes, these are suitable for investors with a higher risk tolerance and the willingness to park funds for the longer term.

Separately, large-cap mutual funds focus on acquiring securities of companies having market capitalization of more than $10 billion. Large-cap funds are ideal for investors seeking high returns that come with lower risk than the small-cap and mid-cap funds.

Below we share with you three top-ranked large-cap growth mutual funds. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future. Investors can click here to see the complete list of all the large-cap growth mutual funds, their Zacks Rank and past performance.

MassMutual Premier Disciplined Growth Service DEIGX invests primarily in common stocks of growth-oriented companies. DEIGX is believed to maintain a portfolio that provides higher returns than the Russell 1000 Growth Index. MassMutual Premier Disciplined Growth Service has a three-year annualized return of 8.3%.

DEIGX has an expense ratio of 0.71% compared with the category average of 1.15%.

Goldman Sachs Large Cap Growth Insights A GLCGX seeks long-term capital appreciation. GLCGX invests a large portion of its assets in a broadly diversified portfolio of equity investments in large-cap US issuers and non-US issuers traded in the US. Goldman Sachs Large Cap Growth Insights A has a three-year annualized return of 10.1%.

Vanguard US Growth Investor VWUSX invests in large-capitalization stocks of seasoned U.S. companies with records of superior growth. The fund chooses companies with strong positions in their markets and reasonable financial strength. Management invests in stocks of large capitalization companies that offer the best available combination of relative earnings growth and attractive valuation. VWUSX distributes dividends and capital gains in December. Vanguard US Growth Investor has a three-year annualized return of 7.9%.

VWUSX has an expense ratio of 0.46% as compared to the category average of 1.15%.