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Is Fidelity Asset Manager 50% (FASMX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Allocation Balanced fund seekers may want to consider taking a look at Fidelity Asset Manager 50% (FASMX - Free Report) . FASMX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FASMX. Fidelity Asset Manager 50% debuted in December of 1988. Since then, FASMX has accumulated assets of about $9.06 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Geoffrey Stein who has been in charge of the fund since June of 2009.
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 7.78%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.45%, 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. FASMX's standard deviation over the past three years is 5.73% compared to the category average of 8.25%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 5.57% compared to the category average of 6.55%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. In FASMX's case, the fund lost 34.81% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 1.37%. This might suggest that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a bear market.
Even still, the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.53, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. With a negative alpha of -0.57, 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, FASMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.64% compared to the category average of 0.90%. FASMX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
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 Asset Manager 50% has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Allocation Balanced, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.
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Is Fidelity Asset Manager 50% (FASMX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Allocation Balanced fund seekers may want to consider taking a look at Fidelity Asset Manager 50% (FASMX - Free Report) . FASMX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FASMX. Fidelity Asset Manager 50% debuted in December of 1988. Since then, FASMX has accumulated assets of about $9.06 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Geoffrey Stein who has been in charge of the fund since June of 2009.
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 7.78%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.45%, 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. FASMX's standard deviation over the past three years is 5.73% compared to the category average of 8.25%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 5.57% compared to the category average of 6.55%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. In FASMX's case, the fund lost 34.81% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 1.37%. This might suggest that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a bear market.
Even still, the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.53, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. With a negative alpha of -0.57, 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, FASMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.64% compared to the category average of 0.90%. FASMX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
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 Asset Manager 50% has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Allocation Balanced, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.