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Is Fidelity International Small Cap Opportunities (FSCOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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On the lookout for a Non US - Equity fund? Starting with Fidelity International Small Cap Opportunities (FSCOX - Free Report) is one possibility. FSCOX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We classify FSCOX in the Non US - Equity category, which is an area rife with potential choices. Investing in companies outside the United States is how Non US - Equity funds set themselves apart, since global funds tend to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. Many of these funds like to allocate across emerging and developed markets, and will often focus on all cap levels.
History of Fund/Manager
FSCOX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity International Small Cap Opportunities debuted in August of 2005. Since then, FSCOX has accumulated assets of about $1.05 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 has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 10.61%, and it sits 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 10.81%, 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. Over the past three years, FSCOX's standard deviation comes in at 10.28%, compared to the category average of 9.54%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 10.2% compared to the category average of 9.29%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
One cannot ignore the volatility of this segment, however, as it is always important for investors to remember the downside to any potential investment. FSCOX lost 70.16% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 11.76%. These results could imply that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.69, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. FSCOX's 5-year performance has produced a positive alpha of 0.74, which means managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, FSCOX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.10% compared to the category average of 1.28%. From a cost perspective, FSCOX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity International Small Cap Opportunities ( FSCOX ) 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 additional information on the Non US - Equity 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 FSCOX too 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 Fidelity International Small Cap Opportunities (FSCOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
On the lookout for a Non US - Equity fund? Starting with Fidelity International Small Cap Opportunities (FSCOX - Free Report) is one possibility. FSCOX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We classify FSCOX in the Non US - Equity category, which is an area rife with potential choices. Investing in companies outside the United States is how Non US - Equity funds set themselves apart, since global funds tend to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. Many of these funds like to allocate across emerging and developed markets, and will often focus on all cap levels.
History of Fund/Manager
FSCOX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity International Small Cap Opportunities debuted in August of 2005. Since then, FSCOX has accumulated assets of about $1.05 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 has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 10.61%, and it sits 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 10.81%, 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. Over the past three years, FSCOX's standard deviation comes in at 10.28%, compared to the category average of 9.54%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 10.2% compared to the category average of 9.29%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
One cannot ignore the volatility of this segment, however, as it is always important for investors to remember the downside to any potential investment. FSCOX lost 70.16% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 11.76%. These results could imply that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.69, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. FSCOX's 5-year performance has produced a positive alpha of 0.74, which means managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, FSCOX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.10% compared to the category average of 1.28%. From a cost perspective, FSCOX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity International Small Cap Opportunities ( FSCOX ) 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 additional information on the Non US - Equity 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 FSCOX too 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.