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Is Fidelity Advisor Gold A (FGDAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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There are plenty of choices in the Sector - Precious Metal category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that you should consider investigating is Fidelity Advisor Gold A (FGDAX - Free Report) . FGDAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Sector - Precious Metal funds is an area filled with options, such as FGDAX. Usually, Sector - Precious Metal mutual funds invest in stocks with a focus on the mining and production of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Here, stocks often trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity, meaning they're tied to the metal's prices and can be volatile.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FGDAX. The Fidelity Advisor Gold A made its debut in December of 2006 and FGDAX has managed to accumulate roughly $100.40 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Steven Calhoun is the fund's current manager and has held that role since September of 2018.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 10.49%, and is in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 20.09%, 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. Over the past three years, FGDAX's standard deviation comes in at 34.64%, compared to the category average of 19.04%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 32.35% compared to the category average of 16.56%. 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 0.65, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 3.4. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, FGDAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.07% compared to the category average of 1.37%. So, FGDAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Advisor Gold A ( FGDAX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Advisor Gold A ( FGDAX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on FGDAXin the Sector - Precious Metal 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.
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Is Fidelity Advisor Gold A (FGDAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Sector - Precious Metal category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that you should consider investigating is Fidelity Advisor Gold A (FGDAX - Free Report) . FGDAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Sector - Precious Metal funds is an area filled with options, such as FGDAX. Usually, Sector - Precious Metal mutual funds invest in stocks with a focus on the mining and production of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Here, stocks often trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity, meaning they're tied to the metal's prices and can be volatile.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FGDAX. The Fidelity Advisor Gold A made its debut in December of 2006 and FGDAX has managed to accumulate roughly $100.40 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Steven Calhoun is the fund's current manager and has held that role since September of 2018.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 10.49%, and is in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 20.09%, 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. Over the past three years, FGDAX's standard deviation comes in at 34.64%, compared to the category average of 19.04%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 32.35% compared to the category average of 16.56%. 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 0.65, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 3.4. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, FGDAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.07% compared to the category average of 1.37%. So, FGDAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Advisor Gold A ( FGDAX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Advisor Gold A ( FGDAX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on FGDAXin the Sector - Precious Metal 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.