American Funds The Growth Fund of America® Class A AGTHX

Capital Group announced that Julien Gaertner will be named on American Funds Growth Fund of America’s management’s team on July 1, 2026. Gaertner has spent all of his 14 years in the industry at Capital Group and has research experience in software and services. He looks for compounding growth companies that have a longer runway and addressable market than most investors forecast. Gaertner likes innovative companies with competitive advantages and solid management teams. He had already served as an undisclosed manager on the fund, so this disclosure serves as recognition of his contributions.

Gaertner joins the experienced management crew of Julian Abdey, Chris Buchbinder, Mark Casey, Roz Hongsaranagon, Carl Kawaja, Aidan O’Connell, Anne-Marie Peterson, Andraz Razen, Martin Romo, Eric Stern, and Alan Wilson. It's a formidable group of accomplished managers who head a very strong research collective rounded out by Capital Group's vast analyst teams. Gaertner's addition does not alter the strategy’s High People rating or its Morningstar Medalist Ratings.

Increased conviction in American Funds Growth Fund of America’s strong management roster and robust supporting cast earns a People rating upgrade to High from Above Average.

An impressive group of investors run this strategy, and sensible lineup allocation moves in 2025 put more assets in more experienced hands. The firm splits the massive USD 335 billion asset base among 12 managers and all three of Capital Group’s equity subsidiaries. Last year, the fund’s leaders reduced its allocation to undisclosed managers, the research portfolios, and two newer managers. Those assets went to the more experienced managers in the fund, which should benefit investors. Many of these managers serve as leaders on other strategies, highlighting the firm’s conviction in this group.

The managers employ a flexible, diversified growth approach that can make it hard to place in the large-growth Morningstar Category. They look for traditional growth stocks but also have the flexibility to invest in fallen angels and cyclical companies. They can also invest abroad if the companies derive a notable portion of revenue from the US. The resulting portfolio is diversified across holdings, with stock positions rarely larger than 6%-7% of assets. This looks very different from the top-heavy Russell 1000 Growth Index category benchmark, and the managers must hit on more picks if mega-caps continue to outperform.

Additionally, the strategy’s massive USD 335 billion asset base limits its flexibility and makes it difficult for one-off positions in small- and mid-cap firms to have an impact on the portfolio. Granted, at the manager sleeve level, they can invest down the market-cap ladder, but weightings get diluted as the various sleeves coalesce.

Like other large-growth peers, the index has been hard to beat. Over the trailing five-, 10-, and 15-year periods through December 2025, the R6 shares lagged the index over all periods and posted middling results versus the category. That said, it posted competitive results with its S&P 500 prospectus benchmark in those periods. Some of the managers’ decisions during these periods, including the portfolio’s underweighting in technology and the market’s largest companies, as well as an outsize stake in non-US stocks, weighed on relative results.

The fund showed signs of life in 2025 and bested both indexes and the category norm. With more assets in more experienced managers’ hands, it has a good shot to build upon that success.

The strategy’s diversified, flexible-growth strategy has strengths, but its massive asset base and individual position caps limit some of its flexibility. It warrants an Average Process rating.

Robust research capabilities back this strategy, with 12 disclosed managers and three analyst teams running separate portfolio sleeves here. The managers search for opportunities globally; some of them prefer traditional growth stocks, others fallen angels, and even cyclical names, though all take long-term views. This diversity leads to a differentiated portfolio across sectors and companies, allowing the strategy to benefit from varied market conditions.

Yet that diverse approach makes it a challenging fit within the large-growth category. For example, stock positions here rarely get larger than 6%-7% of assets. Granted, that’s more similar to its S&P 500 prospectus index but substantially different from the Russell 1000 Growth Index, which had three companies with more than 10% of assets each as of December 2025. The strategy held only 37% of assets in its top 10 holdings, landing it in the lowest decile of large-growth peers, and was substantially lower than the category index’s 61%. As mega-caps continue to drive market returns, this differentiation means the managers must hit on more companies to outperform the index.

Additionally, the strategy’s massive USD 335 billion asset base limits its flexibility and makes it difficult for one-off positions in small- and mid-cap firms to have an impact at the portfolio level. Granted, with the median size of each manager’s sleeve around USD 24 billion, investing in smaller companies isn’t a problem at the sleeve level. But such weightings get diluted as the various sleeves coalesce.

The strategy holds a diverse portfolio of roughly 330 stocks spread across market sectors, which has helped limit volatility over time. So, too, has its cash stake, which has typically been less than 7% of assets the past five years, but has risen to roughly 15% during periods of market stress.

Company-level research drives the strategy’s sector positioning, which often stands out from those of the Russell 1000 Growth Index category benchmark. For instance, the strategy has kept a double-digit tech underweighting over the past five years and was nearly 23 percentage points below the category benchmark at year-end 2025. To be sure, several of the strategy’s top internet holdings, such as Meta Platforms and Google's parent Alphabet, were previously considered tech holdings. Yet the managers have mostly avoided Apple, which is one of the world’s largest firms by market cap and tallied 11% of the index’s market value as of December 2025.

The strategy’s sector positioning more closely resembles its S&P 500 prospectus benchmark. As of December 2025, it held roughly 10%-15% of assets each in consumer discretionary, healthcare, industrials, financials, and communication services.

With roughly USD 330 billion in assets, the strategy is the large-growth category’s biggest active offering. That heft limits its ability to take big positions in mid-cap and even some large-cap stocks.

This multimanager fund benefits from an impressive management roster with a robust supporting cast. Sensible allocation moves between managers in 2025 increase conviction, warranting a People rating upgrade to High from Above Average.

Capital Group, the parent of American Funds, has split the fund's assets between subsidiaries Capital International Investors, Capital World Investors, and Capital Research Global Investors since July 2018. Anne-Marie Peterson heads up the whole fund and oversees CII’s team of Mark Casey and Eric Stern. Alan Wilson heads up CWI’s team, which includes Carl Kawaja, Julian Abdey, Andraz Razen, and Roz Hongsaranagon. Christopher Buchbinder leads CRGI’s group, composed of J. Blair Frank, Martin Romo, and Aidan O’Connell. All 12 managers have been with the firm for at least 20 years, and two have been there more than 30 years.

The leaders made some sensible allocation moves in 2025 that should benefit investors. Notably, they reduced the fund’s allocation to undisclosed managers, the research portfolios, and two newer managers. This moved more assets into proven hands, many of which serve as leaders on other strategies at the firm.

After a firmwide self-assessment of the investment group in late 2025, some managers shuffled responsibilities, but the changes should have minimal impact here. The strategy is losing one veteran manager, J. Blair Frank, who will step off in June 2026 and retire from the firm in July. Frank ran 8% of assets as of September 2025, which the current management team should be able to handle.

Capital Group stands out from the pack as it enhances capabilities around strong core competencies. It earns a High Parent rating.

Since 1931, Capital Group, parent of American Funds, has thoughtfully built out capabilities to become one of the world’s largest asset managers, managing more than USD 3 trillion dollars. Building on the success of its long-term-oriented, multiple-manager system for global equities, the firm has developed robust fixed-income and multi-asset units, each managing more than USD 500 billion. In January 2026, as part of its periodic review of its now five distinct research organizations, Capital Group implemented changes to its equity investment subsidiaries. This exercise resulted in most equity strategies having at least one portfolio manager change, but according to the firm, it better balances each of Capital Group’s three equity groups in terms of investment breadth and helps the firm better align leadership opportunities across the groups. These kinds of shifts have occurred before, with the last coming in 2018.

Capital Group has also turned its attention to some modern opportunities. To address public/private market convergence trends, it launched in April 2025 two semiliquid funds with private market giant KKR. In keeping with its signature portfolio management approach, it splits those funds into multiple sleeves, which are managed independently by distinct managers at each firm. Capital Group plans to deepen this relationship with target-date and model portfolios, as well as public/private equity funds. On the other end of the spectrum, although the firm is firmly dedicated to active management, it has also acknowledged investor preference for passive investing and has thus partnered with indexing stalwarts Vanguard, BlackRock, and Schwab on active/passive models. Capital Group’s proven investment prowess, strong reputation among investors, and scale mean it can be selective with its partnerships.

In addressing another recent trend, since early 2022, the firm has launched more than 25 active exchange-traded funds globally, most of which are distinct, but several are similar to some of its legacy American Funds mutual funds. Unlike some of its peers, though, it has not filed for SEC exemptive relief to offer ETFs as a share class.

That’s a lot of change for such a storied and sizable firm, but Capital Group has a long history of serving investors well.

The strategy’s mix of traditional growth names, turnaround plays, and cyclical stocks has led to outperformance over long stretches. Since the longest-serving manager J. Blair Frank joined the management team in November 2001, the R6 shares’ 11.1% annualized gain through December 2025 bested the S&P 500’s 9.4% (its prospectus benchmark) and the typical large-growth peer’s 9.4%, but lagged the Russell 1000 Growth Index's 11.5%.

The strategy had an impressive run in the early to mid-2000s, when a smaller asset base gave it more flexibility to invest meaningfully in mid-cap stocks. Including value-oriented and international stocks worked in its favor then, too. Massive inflows followed, and the fund’s asset base topped USD 200 billion in October 2007. The fund held up relatively well in the 2007-09 financial crisis.

Yet fundholders haven’t had much to cheer about since the global financial crisis. From the March 9, 2009, bottom, the fund’s 16.9% annualized gain through December 2025 trailed the Russell 1000 Growth Index’s 19.2%. Its measured growth approach hasn’t worked as the market has favored style-pure US growth names.

The strategy showed signs of life in 2025. It bested both indexes and topped the average category peer as non-US picks such as artificial intelligence memory play SK Hynix and Canadian e-commerce firm Shopify helped boost returns.

American Funds Growth Fund of Amer A's Prospectus Adjusted Expense Ratio is 0.59% per year. It places it in the second-cheapest quintile of the Morningstar US Fund Large Growth Category, where the median fee is 0.82% per year. This cost positioning translates into a Medalist Rating Price Score of 1.41, which reflects its relative price positioning within the category. The Price Score ranges from -2.50 (most expensive) to +2.50 (cheapest), with higher scores indicating better cost competitiveness.