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Is Fidelity Puritan Fund (FPURX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Having trouble finding an Allocation Balanced fund? Fidelity Puritan Fund (FPURX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. FPURX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FPURX is one of many Zacks' Allocation Balanced mutual funds to pick from. Allocation Balanced funds seek to invest in a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. Investors utilize Allocation Balanced funds as a way to get a good start with diversified mutual funds, as well as for core holdings in a portfolio of funds.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FPURX. Since Fidelity Puritan Fund made its debut in April of 1947, FPURX has garnered more than $25.54 billion in assets. The fund's current manager, Daniel Kelley, has been in charge of the fund since July of 2018.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. FPURX has a 5-year annualized total return of 11.81% 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 11.9%, 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. The standard deviation of FPURX over the past three years is 13.13% compared to the category average of 14.02%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 10.72% compared to the category average of 11.67%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.68, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. With a positive alpha of 0.9, 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, FPURX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.52% compared to the category average of 0.89%. So, FPURX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Puritan Fund ( FPURX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Puritan Fund ( FPURX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about FPURX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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 Fidelity Puritan Fund (FPURX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Having trouble finding an Allocation Balanced fund? Fidelity Puritan Fund (FPURX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. FPURX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FPURX is one of many Zacks' Allocation Balanced mutual funds to pick from. Allocation Balanced funds seek to invest in a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. Investors utilize Allocation Balanced funds as a way to get a good start with diversified mutual funds, as well as for core holdings in a portfolio of funds.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FPURX. Since Fidelity Puritan Fund made its debut in April of 1947, FPURX has garnered more than $25.54 billion in assets. The fund's current manager, Daniel Kelley, has been in charge of the fund since July of 2018.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. FPURX has a 5-year annualized total return of 11.81% 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 11.9%, 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. The standard deviation of FPURX over the past three years is 13.13% compared to the category average of 14.02%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 10.72% compared to the category average of 11.67%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.68, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. With a positive alpha of 0.9, 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, FPURX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.52% compared to the category average of 0.89%. So, FPURX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Puritan Fund ( FPURX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Puritan Fund ( FPURX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about FPURX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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.