Value Funds Versus Growth Funds: An examination of actual differences in price-to-earnings and price-to-book ratios

摘要

In recent years the Growth and Value fund investment objectives have received a great deal of attention. The growth style is typically associated with a high price-to-book ratio and a high price-to-earnings ratio while the value style describes funds with low price-to-book value ratios and low price-to-earnings ratios. For purposes of this study, a growth fund is defined as a fund with the term "growth" in its name, and a value fund is defined by the term "value" in its name. This study examines whether in aggregate or as individuals, the funds remain true to the said characteristics. It also examines the risk and return associated with each style. The statistical analysis used was a paired difference test and a difference in means analysis. The results of this study found that in aggregate the funds do follow the typical associations. However, individual funds often do not. Therefore, for investors looking to purchase a fund with either of these two investment objectives, it is important to examine the fund's ratios as opposed to strictly relying on the fund's name.