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Is Wasatch Global Opportunities Fund (WAGOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Mutual Fund Equity Report fund seekers should consider taking a look at Wasatch Global Opportunities Fund (WAGOX - Free Report) . WAGOX possesses 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

Wasatch is based in Salt Lake City, UT, and is the manager of WAGOX. The Wasatch Global Opportunities Fund made its debut in November of 2008 and WAGOX has managed to accumulate roughly $138.24 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. WAGOX has a 5-year annualized total return of 13.52% and it sits in the top third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 11.38%, 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. WAGOX's standard deviation over the past three years is 24.14% compared to the category average of 18.63%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 21.2% compared to the category average of 16.08%. 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 1.12, which means it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -0.78, which shows 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, WAGOX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.46% compared to the category average of 1.15%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, WAGOX is actually more expensive than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, Wasatch Global Opportunities Fund ( WAGOX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on WAGOXin 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. 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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