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Is American Funds Washington Mutual Investors A (AWSHX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Mutual Fund Equity Report fund seekers should consider taking a look at American Funds Washington Mutual Investors A (AWSHX - Free Report) . AWSHX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
American Funds is responsible for AWSHX, and the company is based out of Los Angeles, CA. American Funds Washington Mutual Investors A debuted in July of 1952. Since then, AWSHX has accumulated assets of about $71.89 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. AWSHX has a 5-year annualized total return of 10.27% and is in the bottom 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 14.06%, 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. Compared to the category average of 14.56%, the standard deviation of AWSHX over the past three years is 15.81%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.78% compared to the category average of 15.49%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.86, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. AWSHX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.47, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Examining 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 80.32% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks and it has 8.67% of assets in foreign securities. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Finance
Non-Durable
Industrial Cyclical
Turnover is 30%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than its comparable peers.
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, AWSHX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.57% compared to the category average of 0.91%. AWSHX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $250, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.
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 weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, American Funds Washington Mutual Investors A ( AWSHX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a great 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. 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 American Funds Washington Mutual Investors A (AWSHX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Mutual Fund Equity Report fund seekers should consider taking a look at American Funds Washington Mutual Investors A (AWSHX - Free Report) . AWSHX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
American Funds is responsible for AWSHX, and the company is based out of Los Angeles, CA. American Funds Washington Mutual Investors A debuted in July of 1952. Since then, AWSHX has accumulated assets of about $71.89 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. AWSHX has a 5-year annualized total return of 10.27% and is in the bottom 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 14.06%, 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. Compared to the category average of 14.56%, the standard deviation of AWSHX over the past three years is 15.81%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.78% compared to the category average of 15.49%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.86, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. AWSHX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.47, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Examining 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 80.32% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks and it has 8.67% of assets in foreign securities. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Finance
- Non-Durable
- Industrial Cyclical
Turnover is 30%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than its comparable peers.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, AWSHX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.57% compared to the category average of 0.91%. AWSHX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $250, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.
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 weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, American Funds Washington Mutual Investors A ( AWSHX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a great 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. 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.