Image: Bigstock

Risk lovers seeking healthy returns over a fairly long investment horizon may opt for technology mutual funds. It is believed that the technology sector is poised for a brighter earnings performance than others owing to innovation and greater demand. Improving industry fundamentals and emerging technologies — such as wearables, VR headsets, drones, virtual reality devices, and artificial intelligence — are the key catalysts for the sector.

Meanwhile, most mutual funds investing in securities from these sectors prefer a growth-oriented approach that includes focusing on companies with strong fundamentals and a relatively higher investment prospect. Moreover, technology now has broader coverage than just hardware and software companies. Social media and Internet companies are also part of the technology landscape today.

Below we share with you three top-ranked technology mutual funds, viz., T. Rowe Price Global Technology Fund (PRGTX - Free Report), Fidelity Select Technology Portfolio (FSPTX - Free Report), and BlackRock Technology Opportunities Fund Investor A Shares (BGSAX - Free Report). EEach has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform peers in the future.

T. Rowe Price Global Technology Fund aims for long-term capital growth. PRGTX invests most of its assets in the common stocks of companies that its managers expect will generate the majority of their revenues from the development, advancement and use of technology. PRGTX usually invests in a minimum of five countries and invests about one-fourth of its assets in non-U.S. companies.

T. Rowe Price Global Technology Fund has three-year annualized returns of 38.4%. PRGTX has an expense ratio of 0.86% compared with the category average of 1.05%.

Fidelity Select Technology Portfolio fund aims for capital appreciation. FSPTX invests primarily in equity securities, especially common stocks of companies engaged in offering, using or developing products, processes or services that will provide or benefit significantly from technological advances and improvements.

Fidelity Select Technology Portfolio has three-year annualized returns of 39.7%. Brian Lempel is the fund manager of FSPTX since 2020.

BlackRock Technology Opportunities Fund Investor A Shares aims for long-term capital appreciation. BGSAX invests the majority of assets in equity securities issued by domestic as well as foreign technology companies across all market capitalization ranges. Such companies are selected by BlackRock Technology Opportunities Fund Investor A Shares primarily for their rapid and sustainable growth potential from the development, advancement and use of technology.

BlackRock Technology Opportunities Fund Investor A Shares has three-year annualized returns of 40.1%. As of the end of November 2021, BGSAX held 135 issues with 4.77% of its assets invested in Apple Inc.