Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is Fidelity Worldwide Fund (FWWFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Mutual Fund Equity Report fund seekers should consider taking a look at Fidelity Worldwide Fund (FWWFX - Free Report) . FWWFX 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

FWWFX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Worldwide Fund made its debut in May of 1990, FWWFX has garnered more than $2.43 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. FWWFX has a 5-year annualized total return of 15.33% and is 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 16.13%, 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. FWWFX's standard deviation over the past three years is 18.08% compared to the category average of 15%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 16.23% compared to the category average of 13.29%. 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. FWWFX has a 5-year beta of 0.97, which means it is likely to be as volatile as 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. FWWFX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 0.68, 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, FWWFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1% compared to the category average of 1.10%. FWWFX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Worldwide Fund ( FWWFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund 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 FWWFX too 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 Worldwide (FWWFX) - free report >>

Published in