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Is Fidelity Select Environmental & Alternative (FSLEX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Sector - Other fund category, a potential starting could be Fidelity Select Environmental & Alternative (FSLEX - Free Report) . FSLEX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

FSLEX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. The Fidelity Select Environmental & Alternative made its debut in June of 1989 and FSLEX has managed to accumulate roughly $475.20 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Kevin Walenta is the fund's current manager and has held that role since November of 2014.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 16.48%, and it sits 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 17.36%, 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. FSLEX's standard deviation over the past three years is 23.54% compared to the category average of 26.19%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 19.17% compared to the category average of 21.33%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.19, which means it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. FSLEX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -3.09, which means 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, FSLEX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.88% compared to the category average of 1.27%. FSLEX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $0; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Select Environmental & Alternative ( FSLEX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Select Environmental & Alternative ( FSLEX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on FSLEXin the Sector - Other category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.


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