Is Carillon Scout Mid Cap I (UMBMX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

There are plenty of choices in the Mid Cap Growth category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that may not be worth investigating is Carillon Scout Mid Cap I (UMBMX). UMBMX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.ObjectiveZacks categorizes UMBMX as Mid Cap Growth, a segment packed with options. Mid Cap Growth mutual funds aim to target companies with a market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion that are also expected to exhibit more extensive growth opportunities for investors than their peers. A firm is typically considered to be a growth stock if it consistently posts impressive sales and/or earnings growth.History of Fund/ManagerUMBMX finds itself in the Carillon family, based out of St. Petersburg, FL. Since Carillon Scout Mid Cap I made its debut in November of 2006, UMBMX has garnered more than $2.71 billion in assets. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.PerformanceOf course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 12.87%, and is in the top third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 18.64%, which places it in the top 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. The standard deviation of UMBMX over the past three years is 16.33% compared to the category average of 12.86%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 17.58% compared to the category average of 13.3%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.Risk FactorsThe fund has a 5-year beta of 1, so investors should note that it is hypothetically as volatile as the market at large. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -2.77, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.ExpensesFor investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, UMBMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.95% compared to the category average of 0.93%. UMBMX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.Bottom LineOverall, Carillon Scout Mid Cap I ( UMBMX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, Carillon Scout Mid Cap I ( UMBMX ) looks like a poor potential choice for investors right now.For additional information on the Mid Cap Growth area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into UMBMX too for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.Radical New Technology Could Hand Investors Huge GainsQuantum Computing is the next technological revolution, and it could be even more advanced than AI.While some believed the technology was years away, it is already present and moving fast. Large hyperscalers, such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Oracle, and even Meta and Tesla, are scrambling to integrate quantum computing into their infrastructure.Senior Stock Strategist Kevin Cook reveals 7 carefully selected stocks poised to dominate the quantum computing landscape in his report, Beyond AI: The Quantum Leap in Computing Power.Kevin was among the early experts who recognized NVIDIA's enormous potential back in 2016. 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