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Is Fidelity Select Portfolio Medical Technology and Devices (FSMEX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Equity Report fund category, Fidelity Select Portfolio Medical Technology and Devices (FSMEX - Free Report) could be a potential option. FSMEX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

FSMEX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Select Portfolio Medical Technology and Devices made its debut in April of 1998, FSMEX has garnered more than $7.25 billion in assets. Edward Yoon is the fund's current manager and has held that role since May of 2007.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. FSMEX has a 5-year annualized total return of 12.26% 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 9.56%, 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 19.21%, the standard deviation of FSMEX over the past three years is 19.96%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 20.11% compared to the category average of 18.8%. 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 0.88, so it is likely going to be less 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 positive alpha over the past 5 years of 2.41, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, FSMEX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.70% compared to the category average of 1.29%. From a cost perspective, FSMEX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $0; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Select Portfolio Medical Technology and Devices ( FSMEX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Select Portfolio Medical Technology and Devices ( FSMEX ) looks like a good potential 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. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.


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