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Is Artisan Global Opportunities Investor (ARTRX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you're looking for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund category, then a potential option is Artisan Global Opportunities Investor (ARTRX - Free Report) . ARTRX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Artisan Funds is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of ARTRX. Since Artisan Global Opportunities Investor made its debut in September of 2008, ARTRX has garnered more than $782.90 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by 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 6.36%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 5.78%, 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 18.48%, the standard deviation of ARTRX over the past three years is 22.39%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 19.36% compared to the category average of 16.17%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.95, 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -2.32, 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, ARTRX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.14% compared to the category average of 1.09%. From a cost perspective, ARTRX is actually more expensive than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Artisan Global Opportunities Investor ( ARTRX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about ARTRX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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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