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Is Fidelity Select Air Transportation (FSAIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you've been stuck searching for Sector - Other funds, you might want to consider passing on by Fidelity Select Air Transportation as a possibility. FSAIX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is responsible for FSAIX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. The Fidelity Select Air Transportation made its debut in December of 1985 and FSAIX has managed to accumulate roughly $217.96 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Matthew Moulis 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 carries a 5-year annualized total return of 4.16%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 2.26%, 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, FSAIX's standard deviation comes in at 19.61%, compared to the category average of 14.16%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 17.85% compared to the category average of 14.59%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, FSAIX lost 61.29% and underperformed its peer group by 11%. This could mean that the fund is a worse choice than comparable funds during a bear market.

Even still, the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.22, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more 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. FSAIX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -5.62, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, FSAIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.82% compared to the category average of 1.30%. From a cost perspective, FSAIX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Select Air Transportation ( FSAIX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

Your research on the Sector - Other segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.

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