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Should You Invest in Fidelity Select Air Transportation Fund (FSAIX)?

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Sector - Other fund seekers should consider taking a look at Fidelity Select Air Transportation . FSAIX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is responsible for FSAIX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Select Air Transportation made its debut in December of 1985, and since then, FSAIX has accumulated about $426.86 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Matthew Moulis who has been in charge of the fund since January of 2012.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 21.36%, and is in the top 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 12.27%, which places it in the top 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. FSAIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 14.22% compared to the category average of 13.19%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 13.59% compared to the category average of 12.23%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. FSAIX lost 61.29% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 12.51%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.

And for investors concerned about the potential drawdown in a really bad calendar year, we can look back to 2008 for that figure. The fund lost over 32.57%, its worst calendar year in a decade.

Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 1.03, the fund is likely to be as volatile as the market average. 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. FSAIX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 5.5, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Exploring 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.

This fund is currently holding about 96.9% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $37.92 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Industrial Cyclical
  2. Technology

With turnover at about 106%, this fund is making fewer trades than the average comparable fund.

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, FSAIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.84% compared to the category average of 1.19%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FSAIX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Select Air Transportation has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For addition information on the Sector - Other area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into FSAIX too for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.