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Is Fidelity Asset Manager 70% (FASGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, consider Fidelity Asset Manager 70% (FASGX - Free Report) as a possibility. FASGX carries 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

FASGX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. The Fidelity Asset Manager 70% made its debut in December of 1991 and FASGX has managed to accumulate roughly $4.37 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Geoffrey Stein who has been in charge of the fund since June of 2009.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 9.91%, 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 12.15%, 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. The standard deviation of FASGX over the past three years is 13.6% compared to the category average of 14.81%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 12.06% compared to the category average of 13.11%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.74, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. FASGX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -1.5, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, FASGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.66% compared to the category average of 0.86%. From a cost perspective, FASGX 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 Asset Manager 70% ( FASGX ) 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.

Your research on the Mutual Fund Equity Report segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.


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