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Is Fidelity Stock Selector Allocation Cap (FDSSX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, a place to start could be Fidelity Stock Selector Allocation Cap (FDSSX - Free Report) . FDSSX bears 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

FDSSX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Stock Selector Allocation Cap debuted in September of 1990. Since then, FDSSX has accumulated assets of about $1.37 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Geoffrey Stein, has been in charge of the fund since November of 2009.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. FDSSX has a 5-year annualized total return of 12.15% and it sits in the bottom 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 15.66%, which places it in the middle 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. Compared to the category average of 16.01%, the standard deviation of FDSSX over the past three years is 19.01%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 17.49% compared to the category average of 14.08%. 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 1.05, so it is likely going to be 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. FDSSX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -1.52, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Investigating the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is principally on equities that are traded in the United States.

Right now, 96.22% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks and it has a negligible amount of assets in foreign securities. With turnover at about 15%, this fund is making fewer trades than comparable funds.

Expenses

Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, FDSSX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.69% compared to the category average of 0.99%. So, FDSSX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

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 Stock Selector Allocation Cap ( FDSSX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.

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