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Is Fidelity Select Consumer Staples (FDFAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Sector - Other fund seekers should consider taking a look at Fidelity Select Consumer Staples (FDFAX - Free Report) . FDFAX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FDFAX. Fidelity Select Consumer Staples made its debut in July of 1985, and since then, FDFAX has accumulated about $770.53 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Ben Shuleva, has been in charge of the fund since January of 2020.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.51%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.39%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
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 FDFAX over the past three years is 15.73% compared to the category average of 14.99%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 13.74% compared to the category average of 12.65%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.75, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -5.44. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
For 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, FDFAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.75% compared to the category average of 1.27%. So, FDFAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Select Consumer Staples ( FDFAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Sector - Other 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 FDFAX too for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.
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Is Fidelity Select Consumer Staples (FDFAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Sector - Other fund seekers should consider taking a look at Fidelity Select Consumer Staples (FDFAX - Free Report) . FDFAX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FDFAX. Fidelity Select Consumer Staples made its debut in July of 1985, and since then, FDFAX has accumulated about $770.53 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Ben Shuleva, has been in charge of the fund since January of 2020.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.51%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.39%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
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 FDFAX over the past three years is 15.73% compared to the category average of 14.99%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 13.74% compared to the category average of 12.65%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.75, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -5.44. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
For 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, FDFAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.75% compared to the category average of 1.27%. So, FDFAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Select Consumer Staples ( FDFAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Sector - Other 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 FDFAX too for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.