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Is Fidelity Select Brokerage and Investment Management (FSLBX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Equity Report fund category, Fidelity Select Brokerage and Investment Management (FSLBX - Free Report) could be a potential option. FSLBX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

FSLBX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. The Fidelity Select Brokerage and Investment Management made its debut in July of 1985 and FSLBX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.25 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. Charlie Ackerman is the fund's current manager and has held that role since November of 2018.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. FSLBX has a 5-year annualized total return of 18.7% 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 26.08%, 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. FSLBX's standard deviation over the past three years is 21.48% compared to the category average of 26.11%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 18.77% compared to the category average of 22.15%. 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 1.06, 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. FSLBX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 1.18, demonstrating 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, FSLBX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.73% compared to the category average of 1.47%. From a cost perspective, FSLBX is actually cheaper than its peers.

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 Brokerage and Investment Management ( FSLBX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Select Brokerage and Investment Management ( FSLBX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on FSLBXin the Mutual Fund Equity Report 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. 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.


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