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Is Fidelity Overseas Fund (FOSFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Non US - Equity fund seekers should consider taking a look at Fidelity Overseas Fund (FOSFX - Free Report) . FOSFX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We classify FOSFX 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
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FOSFX. Fidelity Overseas Fund made its debut in December of 1984, and since then, FOSFX has accumulated about $6.22 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Vincent Montemaggiore is the fund's current manager and has held that role since January of 2012.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.3%, and is 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 6.69%, 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. Compared to the category average of 10.53%, the standard deviation of FOSFX over the past three years is 11.68%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 11.75% compared to the category average of 11.12%. 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 FOSFX's case, the fund lost 60.24% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 1.78%. This means that the fund could possibly be a worse choice than its peers during a down market environment.
Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. FOSFX has a 5-year beta of 0.8, which means it 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -3.19, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, FOSFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.96% compared to the category average of 1.20%. So, FOSFX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Overseas Fund ( FOSFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Non US - Equity, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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.
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Is Fidelity Overseas Fund (FOSFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Non US - Equity fund seekers should consider taking a look at Fidelity Overseas Fund (FOSFX - Free Report) . FOSFX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We classify FOSFX 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
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FOSFX. Fidelity Overseas Fund made its debut in December of 1984, and since then, FOSFX has accumulated about $6.22 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Vincent Montemaggiore is the fund's current manager and has held that role since January of 2012.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.3%, and is 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 6.69%, 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. Compared to the category average of 10.53%, the standard deviation of FOSFX over the past three years is 11.68%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 11.75% compared to the category average of 11.12%. 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 FOSFX's case, the fund lost 60.24% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 1.78%. This means that the fund could possibly be a worse choice than its peers during a down market environment.
Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. FOSFX has a 5-year beta of 0.8, which means it 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -3.19, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, FOSFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.96% compared to the category average of 1.20%. So, FOSFX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Overseas Fund ( FOSFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Non US - Equity, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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.