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Is Fidelity Select Technology (FSPTX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Sector - Tech funds, a place to start could be Fidelity Select Technology (FSPTX - Free Report) . FSPTX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

The world of Sector - Tech funds is an area filled with options, and FSPTX is one of them. Sector - Tech mutual funds allow investors to own a stake in a notoriously volatile sector with a much more diversified approach. Tech companies can be in any number of industries such as semiconductors, software, internet, networking just to name a few.

History of Fund/Manager

FSPTX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Select Technology made its debut in July of 1981, and since then, FSPTX has accumulated about $12.30 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Brian Lempel, has been in charge of the fund since July of 2020.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. FSPTX has a 5-year annualized total return of 33.5% and it sits 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 31.24%, 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, FSPTX's standard deviation comes in at 22.66%, compared to the category average of 23.53%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 19.14% compared to the category average of 19.8%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. FSPTX has a 5-year beta of 1.08, which means it is likely to be more 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 12.84. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, FSPTX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.68% compared to the category average of 1.35%. From a cost perspective, FSPTX is actually cheaper than its peers.

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 Select Technology ( FSPTX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about FSPTX? 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. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.


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