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Is Fidelity Asset Manager 20% (FASIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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On the lookout for an Allocation Balanced fund? Starting with Fidelity Asset Manager 20% (FASIX - Free Report) is one possibility. FASIX holds 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 Zacks' Allocation Balanced funds is an area filled with options, such as FASIX. These funds like to invest in a variety of asset types, finding a balance between stocks, bonds, cash, and sometimes even precious metals and commodities; they are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. For investors, Allocation Balanced funds can provide an entry point into diversified mutual funds, and present core holding options for a portfolio of funds.

History of Fund/Manager

FASIX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Asset Manager 20% debuted in October of 1992. Since then, FASIX has accumulated assets of about $4.77 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Geoffrey Stein, has been in charge of the fund since June of 2009.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 5.47%, 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 6.62%, 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. FASIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 5.49% compared to the category average of 13.34%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 4.43% compared to the category average of 11.02%. 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. FASIX has a 5-year beta of 0.25, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. FASIX's 5-year performance has produced a positive alpha of 0.1, which means 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, FASIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.50% compared to the category average of 0.89%. So, FASIX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

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 Asset Manager 20% ( FASIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Asset Manager 20% ( FASIX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on FASIXin the Allocation Balanced category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well 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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