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Is Cohen & Steers Preferred Securities and Income A (CPXAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report fund category, a potential starting could be Cohen & Steers Preferred Securities and Income A (CPXAX - Free Report) . CPXAX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

CPXAX finds itself in the Cohen & Steers family, based out of New York, NY. Cohen & Steers Preferred Securities and Income A made its debut in May of 2010, and since then, CPXAX has accumulated about $961.26 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.12%, and is 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 -1.25%, 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 CPXAX over the past three years is 11.39% compared to the category average of 15.37%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 9.2% compared to the category average of 13.5%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.4, which means it is hypothetically less 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. CPXAX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -3.27, 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, CPXAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.12% compared to the category average of 0.86%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, CPXAX is actually more expensive than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Cohen & Steers Preferred Securities and Income A ( CPXAX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, Cohen & Steers Preferred Securities and Income A ( CPXAX ) looks like a somewhat average 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. 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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