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Is MassMutual Premier Global Admiral (MGFLX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Mutual Fund Equity Report fund seekers should not consider taking a look at MassMutual Premier Global Admiral (MGFLX - Free Report) at this time. MGFLX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

MassMutual is responsible for MGFLX, and the company is based out of Springfield, MA. The MassMutual Premier Global Admiral made its debut in December of 2004 and MGFLX has managed to accumulate roughly $57.44 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, John Delano, has been in charge of the fund since March of 2017.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. MGFLX has a 5-year annualized total return of 7.89% and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 5.52%, which places it in the bottom 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 MGFLX over the past three years is 21.86% compared to the category average of 15.11%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 19.14% compared to the category average of 13.36%. 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 1.1, so it is likely going to be more volatile than the market at large. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. MGFLX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -5.94, 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, MGFLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.14% compared to the category average of 1.10%. So, MGFLX is actually more expensive 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, MassMutual Premier Global Admiral ( MGFLX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a poor 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 MGFLX too for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.


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