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Is Oppenheimer Gold & Special Mineral A (OPGSX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Having trouble finding a Sector - Precious Metal fund? Oppenheimer Gold & Special Mineral A (OPGSX - Free Report) is a possible starting point. OPGSX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We note that OPGSX is a Sector - Precious Metal option, and this area is loaded with different options. Sector - Precious Metal funds typically invest in companies that are involved in the mining and production of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Because stocks in this environment often trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity--they are tied to the prices of the metal--these equities tend to be volatile.
History of Fund/Manager
Invesco is based in Kansas City, MO, and is the manager of OPGSX. Oppenheimer Gold & Special Mineral A debuted in July of 1983. Since then, OPGSX has accumulated assets of about $548.89 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Shanquan Li, has been in charge of the fund since July of 1997.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.59%, and is 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 -0.06%, 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. OPGSX's standard deviation over the past three years is 22.3% compared to the category average of 12.56%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 32.18% compared to the category average of 14.76%. 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. In the most recent bear market, OPGSX lost 45.9% and underperformed comparable funds by 9%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, investors should also note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.42, which means it is hypothetically 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. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 7.81, which shows that 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, OPGSX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.17% compared to the category average of 1.41%. So, OPGSX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, Oppenheimer Gold & Special Mineral A ( OPGSX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Oppenheimer Gold & Special Mineral A ( OPGSX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Sector - Precious Metal 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 OPGSX too 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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Is Oppenheimer Gold & Special Mineral A (OPGSX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Having trouble finding a Sector - Precious Metal fund? Oppenheimer Gold & Special Mineral A (OPGSX - Free Report) is a possible starting point. OPGSX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We note that OPGSX is a Sector - Precious Metal option, and this area is loaded with different options. Sector - Precious Metal funds typically invest in companies that are involved in the mining and production of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Because stocks in this environment often trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity--they are tied to the prices of the metal--these equities tend to be volatile.
History of Fund/Manager
Invesco is based in Kansas City, MO, and is the manager of OPGSX. Oppenheimer Gold & Special Mineral A debuted in July of 1983. Since then, OPGSX has accumulated assets of about $548.89 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Shanquan Li, has been in charge of the fund since July of 1997.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.59%, and is 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 -0.06%, 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. OPGSX's standard deviation over the past three years is 22.3% compared to the category average of 12.56%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 32.18% compared to the category average of 14.76%. 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. In the most recent bear market, OPGSX lost 45.9% and underperformed comparable funds by 9%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, investors should also note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.42, which means it is hypothetically 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. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 7.81, which shows that 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, OPGSX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.17% compared to the category average of 1.41%. So, OPGSX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, Oppenheimer Gold & Special Mineral A ( OPGSX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Oppenheimer Gold & Special Mineral A ( OPGSX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Sector - Precious Metal 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 OPGSX too 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.