Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is ProFunds UltraNASDAQ-100 Fund Investor (UOPIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Looking for an Index fund? You may want to consider ProFunds UltraNASDAQ-100 Fund Investor (UOPIX - Free Report) as a possible option. While this fund is not tracked by the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we were able to examine other factors like performance, volatility, and cost.

History of Fund/Manager

UOPIX is a part of the ProFunds family of funds, a company based out of Columbus, OH. ProFunds UltraNASDAQ-100 Fund Investor made its debut in December of 1997, and since then, UOPIX has accumulated about $516.50 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Rachel Ames who has been in charge of the fund since October of 2013.

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 37.01%, 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 44.35%, 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. Compared to the category average of 8.93%, the standard deviation of UOPIX over the past three years is 26.82%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 25.89% compared to the category average of 8.95%. 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. In the most recent bear market, UOPIX lost 80.71% and outperformed its peer group by 34.16%. This means that the fund could possibly be a better choice than its peers during a down market environment.

Nevertheless, investors should also note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 2.38, which means it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 3.66. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Investigating 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.

As of the last filing date, the mutual fund has 89.47% of its assets in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $383.77 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Other
  2. Technology
Turnover is 4%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than the average comparable fund.

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, UOPIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.43% compared to the category average of 0.85%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, UOPIX is actually more expensive than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $15,000 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

For additional information on the Index 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 UOPIX too for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


ProFunds UltraNASDAQ-100 Fund Inv (UOPIX) - free report >>

Published in