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Is John Hancock2 Real Estate Securities 1 (JIREX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Mutual Fund Equity Report fund seekers should consider taking a look at John Hancock2 Real Estate Securities 1 (JIREX - Free Report) . JIREX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

John Hancock is responsible for JIREX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. Since John Hancock2 Real Estate Securities 1 made its debut in October of 2005, JIREX has garnered more than $370.85 million in assets. Bradford Stoesser is the fund's current manager and has held that role since November of 2020.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 11.5%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 16.82%, 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 JIREX over the past three years is 18.27% compared to the category average of 18.9%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 15.46% compared to the category average of 15.92%. 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 0.72, 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. JIREX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -1.58, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, JIREX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.87% compared to the category average of 1.22%. So, JIREX 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, John Hancock2 Real Estate Securities 1 ( JIREX ) 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 JIREX? 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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