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Is John Hancock Regional Bank A (FRBAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If investors are looking at the Sector - Finance fund category, make sure to pass over John Hancock Regional Bank A (FRBAX - Free Report) . FRBAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FRBAX is one of many Sector - Finance funds to choose from. Sector - Finance mutual funds provide investors with a diversified and stabilized investment approach focused on the financial space, which is a notoriously large, complex, and heavily-regulated industry. These funds include everything from insurance companies and exchanges to banks and investment giants; interest rates can impact the players of this space as well.
History of Fund/Manager
FRBAX is a part of the John Hancock family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. John Hancock Regional Bank A debuted in January of 1992. Since then, FRBAX has accumulated assets of about $1.21 billion, according to the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 19.91%, 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 23.4%, 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. The standard deviation of FRBAX over the past three years is 16.89% compared to the category average of 10.93%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 15.67% compared to the category average of 10.36%. This makes the fund more 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. FRBAX lost 54.74% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 5.88%. This means that the fund could possibly be a better choice than its peers during a down market environment.
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.95, 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 5.06. This means 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, FRBAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.24% compared to the category average of 1.07%. So, FRBAX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, John Hancock Regional Bank A has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, John Hancock Regional Bank A looks like a poor potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Sector - Finance, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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 John Hancock Regional Bank A (FRBAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If investors are looking at the Sector - Finance fund category, make sure to pass over John Hancock Regional Bank A (FRBAX - Free Report) . FRBAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FRBAX is one of many Sector - Finance funds to choose from. Sector - Finance mutual funds provide investors with a diversified and stabilized investment approach focused on the financial space, which is a notoriously large, complex, and heavily-regulated industry. These funds include everything from insurance companies and exchanges to banks and investment giants; interest rates can impact the players of this space as well.
History of Fund/Manager
FRBAX is a part of the John Hancock family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. John Hancock Regional Bank A debuted in January of 1992. Since then, FRBAX has accumulated assets of about $1.21 billion, according to the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 19.91%, 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 23.4%, 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. The standard deviation of FRBAX over the past three years is 16.89% compared to the category average of 10.93%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 15.67% compared to the category average of 10.36%. This makes the fund more 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. FRBAX lost 54.74% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 5.88%. This means that the fund could possibly be a better choice than its peers during a down market environment.
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.95, 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 5.06. This means 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, FRBAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.24% compared to the category average of 1.07%. So, FRBAX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, John Hancock Regional Bank A has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, John Hancock Regional Bank A looks like a poor potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Sector - Finance, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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.