Key Morningstar Metrics for T. Rowe Price U.S. Blue Chip Growth Fund
- : SilverMorningstar Medalist Rating
- : Above AverageProcess Pillar
- : Above AveragePeople Pillar
- : Above AverageParent Pillar
When accessed through vehicles with competitive fees, the T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth strategy remains one of the better choices in a deep Morningstar Category, thanks to the depth and breadth of its research effort and its capable portfolio manager.
This strategy’s core principles have remained intact over the years, but recent market volatility highlights some evolutions. As US growth stocks nosedived in early 2025, the US mutual fund’s no-load share class did a bit better than the Russell 1000 Growth Index. Then in the selloff in the first quarter of 2026, the fund lagged its bogy, but not by much. Historically, the strategy has fared worse in these environments, owing in part to greater exposure to fast-growing companies, which can be more susceptible to changes in market sentiment or expectations. Manager Paul Greene has since pledged to keep a tighter leash on that stylistic tilt while also giving greater consideration to stocks with moderate-growth rates that could offer ballast. These efforts appear to be working so far.
Greene isn’t satisfied with his strategy’s performance through the first four months of 2026, but the fund has held up well all things considered. The US mutual fund’s no-load share class gained 0.2% over that stretch versus a 1.0% rise for the benchmark and 2.8% return for the average large-growth category peer. Volatile stocks with high growth potential (and risk) have been in favor, while the steadier businesses that Greene overweights have come under pressure. Portfolio holdings like Microsoft and ServiceNow have struggled so far this year, but Greene is sticking with them. More broadly, he hasn’t traded much despite higher volatility. He similarly held steady during 2022’s turbulence, sowing the seeds for a strong recovery in 2023. His ability and the work of T. Rowe’s vast analyst team should produce better results ahead as the market evolves.
Investors here can expect a focus on high-quality large-cap stocks with good growth prospects, the occasional mid-cap stock, and a smattering of emerging private companies for versions that allow such investments. Despite some unique traits, the portfolio has become less distinctive over time as Greene embraced the benchmark’s largest constituents and because of smaller underweightings against stocks with high potential that he doesn’t favor, such as Tesla. Overall, the strategy may not fly as high as it once did, but it’s a better bet on the downside. Greene has done well to put it all together, coming ahead of most peers over the trailing three-year period ending April 2026.
T. Rowe Price U.S. Blue Chip Growth Fund: Performance Highlights
This strategy has clawed back into contention. Manager Paul Greene assumed sole control of this strategy 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 stocks such as Meta Platforms, Carvana, Rivian, Sea, and Snap were among the key detractors. But the fund has since reemerged. The no-load shares posted top-quartile results versus peers in 2023 and 2024 and finished just outside that segment in 2025. Some of that rebound stemmed from 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. The first four months of 2026 have been rocky, but the fund has persevered despite the market’s pivot away from steadier growers in favor of those with more upside (and potential volatility) amid a boom in artificial intelligence spending.
Overall, from Greene’s October 2021 start through April 2026, the US mutual fund’s no-load share class gained 9.6% annualized, roughly equaling the average large-growth peer’s return but lagging the Russell 1000 Growth Index’s 13.5%. 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 had to underweight those stocks on account of absolute risk considerations or regulatory hurdles. The US mutual fund has stayed afloat since 2023, however, 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.
