Aggressive growth funds become a natural choice for investors who are ready to take risks to enjoy the chance of high capital appreciation. Luckily in the first quarter, aggressive growth funds have had an encouraging rally. The best gains for an Aggressive Growth in Q1 was nearly 10%, which was significantly higher than the Growth fund category returns, be it large, mid or small-cap growth funds.

The gains have come in a quarter that was not about robust surge. Markets witnessed choppy trading sessions during Q1 2015 as investors grappled with concerns related to lower global growth projections, a slump in oil prices, strengthening dollar and apprehensions about the timing of the Fed interest rate hike. The World Bank reduced its global economic growth outlook for 2015 and 2016. The Dow (DIA) snapped a three-quarter winning streak and declined 0.3%. The S&P 500 (SPY) and Nasdaq (QQQ) gained 0.4% and 3.5%.

For the mutual funds, Lipper said the average diversified US stock mutual funds returned 2.5% in Q1, while international funds gained 4.5%. On the other hand, growth funds had a decent Q1, beating in almost all cases the returns of Value and Blend funds.

Aggressive Growth Funds

Focusing on Aggressive Growth funds only, investors looking for the highest capital gains should look no further than investing in aggressive growth mutual funds.

These funds invest in companies that show high growth prospects, but that comes with the risk of share price fluctuations. This category of funds also invests heavily in undervalued stocks, IPOs and relatively volatile securities in order to profit from them in a congenial economic climate. Securities are selected on the basis of their issuing company’s potential for growth and profitability.

This category of instruments has a strong positive correlation with market movements and provides good returns during a market upswing. Such performance is achieved by investing in securities issued by companies with strong growth potential and in IPOs which are often resold quickly at a handsome profit. Many aggressive growth mutual funds may also invest in options to achieve their goal of high returns.

Top 15 Aggressive Growth Funds in Q1:

Below we present a table of the top 15 Aggressive Growth funds with the best returns in Q1 of 2015: 

Note: The list excludes the same funds with different classes, and institutional funds have been excluded. Funds having minimum initial investment above $5000 have been excluded. Q1 % Rank vs Objective* equals the percentage the fund falls among its objective. Here, 1 being the best and 99 being the worst.

Most of the top 15 Aggressive Growth funds performers carry favorable Zacks Mutual Fund Ranks. Among the funds carrying favorable ranks, Rydex Russell 2000 2x Strategy A (RYRUX - MF report), Janus Enterprise T (JAENX - MF report), Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund (FDEGX - MF report), Hartford Growth Opportunities A (HGOAX - MF report) and Timothy Plan Aggressive Growth A (TAAGX - MF report) carry a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Meanwhile, Rydex MidCap 1.5X Strategy A (RYAHX - MF report), Wasatch Ultra Growth (WAMCX - MF report), PRIMECAP Odyssey Aggressive Growth (POAGX - MF report) and HSBC Investor Opportunity A (HSOAX - MF report) currently hold a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #2 (Buy).
 

About Zacks Mutual Fund Rank

By applying the Zacks Rank to mutual funds, investors can find funds that not only outpaced the market in the past but are also expected to outperform going forward. Pick the best mutual funds with the Zacks Rank.