Key Morningstar Metrics for T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth
- Morningstar Medalist Rating: Bronze
- Process Pillar: Above Average
- People Pillar: Above Average
- Parent Pillar: High
When accessed through vehicles with competitive fees, T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth TRBCX remains one of the better choices in a deep category, thanks to the depth and breadth of its research effort and capable portfolio manager.
This fund’s core principles have remained intact over the years, but recent market turmoil highlights some evolutions. As US growth stocks nosedived through early April 2025, the US mutual fund’s no-load share class outperformed the Russell 1000 Growth Index for the year-to-date period. That hasn’t been the case historically. During past growth-stock market routs, such as in 2022, the fund has lagged its benchmark because of greater exposure to fast-growing companies, which can be more susceptible to changes in market sentiment or expectations. Following the bear market in 2022, manager Paul Greene pledged to keep a tighter leash on that stylistic tilt while also giving greater consideration to stocks with more moderate-growth rates that could offer ballast. The changes have been incremental, though they’ve proved effective during their first test, which highlights good execution of the new game plan.
Despite the volatility, Greene remains steadfast and hasn’t traded much. He doesn’t believe his portfolio is overexposed to the risk that tariffs present relative to his benchmark and is content to focus on the stock-specific drivers that he can predict, as opposed to government policy.
Investors here should still expect a focus on high-quality, fast-growing large-cap stocks, the occasional mid-cap, as well as a smattering of emerging private companies for versions that allow such investments. Mega-caps, especially those that constitute the Magnificent Seven (Alphabet GOOGL, Amazon.com AMZN, Apple AAPL, Meta Platforms META, Microsoft MSFT, Nvidia NVDA, and Tesla TSLA), are featured here, though not all are favored by Greene. As of March 31, 2025, the portfolio remained underweight in Apple but was overweight in Amazon, Nvidia, and Microsoft. Yet, its single largest bet, Carvana CVNA, highlights a way in which it stands out. Greene owned the stock heading into 2022’s disastrous year, which saw shares decline from over $350 to single digits. Greene sold his shares at the end of 2022 but repurchased them in 2023, believing that the company’s business model was still a good one. Investors have since agreed, and the stock has returned to near its old highs. Such calls helped propel the fund back to the top quartile of its large-growth Morningstar Category peer group over the trailing three-year period ended May 31.
T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth: Performance Highlights
Greene assumed sole control of this fund at the growth-stock market top in October 2021. The US mutual fund soon plummeted in the fourth quarter of that year and bottomed out in 2022’s bear market. Overweightings in Meta, Carvana, Rivian RIVN, Sea SE, and Snap SNAP were among the key detractors. But the fund has since reemerged. It posted top-quartile results in 2023 and 2024 and was ahead of the Russell 1000 Growth Index through the first five months of 2025. Some of that rebound owed to stylistic factors reversing, as high-growth stocks subsequently caught fire, but also strong stock selection, including former laggards Meta Platforms and Carvana, in addition to an overweighting in Nvidia.
Overall, from manager Greene’s October 2021 start through May 2025, the US mutual fund’s no-load share class gained 7.7% annualized, equaling the average large-growth category peer’s return but lagging the Russell 1000 Growth Index’s 11.7%. The large differential between the category average and index owes to the fact that the largest index constituents have been among the best performers, pushing weightings beyond the reach of many strategies that have been underweight those stocks owing to absolute risk considerations or regulatory hurdles. The US mutual fund has stayed afloat since 2023, partly because of its ability to match those weightings as a nondiversified offering, but that alone hasn’t ensured a smooth journey overall and may yet go on to sting if the current dynamic reverses.