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Is Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology A (FBTAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Equity Report fund category, Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology A (FBTAX - Free Report) could be a potential option. FBTAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is responsible for FBTAX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology A made its debut in December of 2000, FBTAX has garnered more than $782 million in assets. The fund's current manager, Eirene Kontopoulos, has been in charge of the fund since July of 2018.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 12.47%, 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 12.4%, 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. FBTAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 21.32% compared to the category average of 15.59%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 20.83% compared to the category average of 13.39%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.87, the fund 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. FBTAX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -1.57, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, FBTAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1% compared to the category average of 1.33%. From a cost perspective, FBTAX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $0; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology A ( FBTAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology A ( FBTAX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on FBTAXin the Mutual Fund Equity Report 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.


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