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Is Kinetics Small Cap Opportunity No Load (KSCOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, it would not be wise to start your search with Kinetics Small Cap Opportunity No Load (KSCOX - Free Report) . KSCOX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
KSCOX is a part of the Kinetics family of funds, a company based out of Sleepy Hollow, NY. Kinetics Small Cap Opportunity No Load made its debut in February of 2003, and since then, KSCOX has accumulated about $195.74 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 19.86%, and it sits in the middle 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 25.02%, which places it in the middle 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. KSCOX's standard deviation over the past three years is 35.74% compared to the category average of 16.6%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 29.06% compared to the category average of 14.63%. 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 1.37, which means it is hypothetically more 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. KSCOX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.11, demonstrating 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, KSCOX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.64% compared to the category average of 1.11%. KSCOX 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 Small Cap Opportunity No Load ( KSCOX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a poor potential choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about KSCOX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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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Is Kinetics Small Cap Opportunity No Load (KSCOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, it would not be wise to start your search with Kinetics Small Cap Opportunity No Load (KSCOX - Free Report) . KSCOX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
KSCOX is a part of the Kinetics family of funds, a company based out of Sleepy Hollow, NY. Kinetics Small Cap Opportunity No Load made its debut in February of 2003, and since then, KSCOX has accumulated about $195.74 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 19.86%, and it sits in the middle 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 25.02%, which places it in the middle 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. KSCOX's standard deviation over the past three years is 35.74% compared to the category average of 16.6%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 29.06% compared to the category average of 14.63%. 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 1.37, which means it is hypothetically more 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. KSCOX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.11, demonstrating 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, KSCOX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.64% compared to the category average of 1.11%. KSCOX 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 Small Cap Opportunity No Load ( KSCOX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a poor potential choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about KSCOX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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.