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Is Kinetics Small Cap Opportunity Adviser A (KSOAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Having trouble finding a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? Kinetics Small Cap Opportunity Adviser A (KSOAX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. KSOAX carries 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

KSOAX finds itself in the Kinetics family, based out of Sleepy Hollow, NY. Kinetics Small Cap Opportunity Adviser A debuted in February of 2003. Since then, KSOAX has accumulated assets of about $15.36 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 20.19%, 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 18.6%, 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 KSOAX over the past three years is 36.15% compared to the category average of 17.65%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 29.76% compared to the category average of 15.59%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.29, which means it is hypothetically more 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. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 5.01, which shows that 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, KSOAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.89% compared to the category average of 1.19%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, KSOAX is actually more expensive than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Kinetics Small Cap Opportunity Adviser A ( KSOAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Kinetics Small Cap Opportunity Adviser A ( KSOAX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on KSOAXin 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. 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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