Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is Fidelity Select Health Care Services (FSHCX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Equity Report category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that you should consider investigating is Fidelity Select Health Care Services (FSHCX - Free Report) . FSHCX 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

Fidelity is responsible for FSHCX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. The Fidelity Select Health Care Services made its debut in June of 1986 and FSHCX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.28 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Justin Segalini, has been in charge of the fund since January of 2016.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 18.59%, 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 19.52%, 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. FSHCX's standard deviation over the past three years is 20.37% compared to the category average of 17.98%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 19.03% compared to the category average of 17.17%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. FSHCX has a 5-year beta of 0.85, which means it 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. With a positive alpha of 3.23, managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, FSHCX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.71% compared to the category average of 1.30%. So, FSHCX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

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

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Equity Report, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Fidelity Select Health Care Svcs (FSHCX) - free report >>

Published in