Image: Bigstock

With around $1.4 trillion assets under management as of Sep 30, 2020, Franklin Templeton Investments is a well-known global investment management firm. Franklin Templeton acquired Legg Mason on Jul 31. It offers investment management strategies and integrated risk-management solutions to individuals, institutions, pension plans, trusts, and partnerships.

Founded in 1947, Franklin Templeton Investments offers "exceptional asset management" to clients in more than 165 countries. It has presence in 34 countries and more than 12,000 employees. Franklin Templeton Investments is the biggest cross-border fund management group in the world.

Below we share with you three top-ranked Franklin Templeton mutual funds. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future.

Franklin Small-Mid Cap Growth Fund Class A (FRSGX - Free Report) aims for long-term capital growth. The fund invests the majority of its assets in equity securities of small-capitalization and mid-capitalization companies. Its managers choose companies from a range of sectors that include information technology, consumer discretionary, industrials, and healthcare. The fund has returned 19.6% in the past three years.

As of the end of November 2020, FRSGX held 122 issues with 2.63% of its assets invested in Twilio Inc A.

Franklin DynaTech Fund Class A (FKDNX - Free Report) aims for capital appreciation. The fund primarily invests in common stocks of companies, which the fund manager believes are leaders in innovation, take advantage of new technologies, have superior management and benefit from new industry conditions in a dynamically changing global economy. FKDNX has three-year annualized returns of 24%.

FKDNX has an expense ratio of 0.86% compared to the category average of 1.04%.

Franklin High Income Fund Advisor Class (FVHIX - Free Report) aims for high current income. The fund also aims for capital appreciation to the extent it is possible and consistent with the fund's principal goal by investing predominantly in high yield, lower-rated debt securities. FVHIX has three-year annualized returns of 4%.

Glenn I. Voyles has been one of the fund managers of FVHIX since 2015.