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Is Kinetics Global Fund No Load (WWWEX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, consider Kinetics Global Fund No Load (WWWEX - Free Report) as a possibility. WWWEX carries 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

Kinetics is based in Sleepy Hollow, NY, and is the manager of WWWEX. The Kinetics Global Fund No Load made its debut in February of 2003 and WWWEX has managed to accumulate roughly $19.13 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Murray Stahl who has been in charge of the fund since February of 2003.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 15.02%, 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 20.91%, 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. Compared to the category average of 16.81%, the standard deviation of WWWEX over the past three years is 22.69%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 21.31% compared to the category average of 14.57%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.81, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 1.38, which shows 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, WWWEX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.39% compared to the category average of 1.11%. WWWEX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Kinetics Global Fund No Load ( WWWEX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Kinetics Global Fund No Load ( WWWEX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Equity Report 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 WWWEX too for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.


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