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There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Bond category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that may not be worth investigating is Fidelity Strategic Real Return (FSRRX - Free Report) . FSRRX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
FSRRX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Strategic Real Return made its debut in September of 2005, FSRRX has garnered more than $281.09 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 carries a 5-year annualized total return of 4.77%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.56%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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. Over the past three years, FSRRX's standard deviation comes in at 9.18%, compared to the category average of 13.8%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 9.84% compared to the category average of 14.46%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
FSRRX carries a beta of -0.1, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 4.06, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
Ratings
Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, FSRRX has 42.85% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while its junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 43.08%. This means that the fund has an average quality of A, and focuses on high quality securities.
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, FSRRX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.70% compared to the category average of 0.75%. FSRRX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Strategic Real Return ( FSRRX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Bond funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare FSRRX to its peers as well for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.
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Is FSRRX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Bond category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that may not be worth investigating is Fidelity Strategic Real Return (FSRRX - Free Report) . FSRRX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
FSRRX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Strategic Real Return made its debut in September of 2005, FSRRX has garnered more than $281.09 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 carries a 5-year annualized total return of 4.77%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.56%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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. Over the past three years, FSRRX's standard deviation comes in at 9.18%, compared to the category average of 13.8%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 9.84% compared to the category average of 14.46%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
FSRRX carries a beta of -0.1, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 4.06, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
Ratings
Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, FSRRX has 42.85% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while its junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 43.08%. This means that the fund has an average quality of A, and focuses on high quality securities.
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, FSRRX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.70% compared to the category average of 0.75%. FSRRX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Strategic Real Return ( FSRRX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Bond funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare FSRRX to its peers as well for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.