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Is Schwab MarketTrack Allocation Equity Portfolio (SWEGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Having trouble finding a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? Schwab MarketTrack Allocation Equity Portfolio (SWEGX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. SWEGX carries 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

SWEGX finds itself in the Schwab Funds family, based out of San Francisco, CA. Schwab MarketTrack Allocation Equity Portfolio debuted in May of 1998. Since then, SWEGX has accumulated assets of about $765 million, according to the most recently available information. Zifan Tang is the fund's current manager and has held that role since February of 2012.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. SWEGX has a 5-year annualized total return of 7.9% and is in the middle 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 8.86%, 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. SWEGX's standard deviation over the past three years is 19.52% compared to the category average of 18.64%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 17.47% compared to the category average of 16.61%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.98, the fund is likely to be as volatile as 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. SWEGX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -4.1, 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, SWEGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.38% compared to the category average of 0.86%. So, SWEGX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Schwab MarketTrack Allocation Equity Portfolio ( SWEGX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Schwab MarketTrack Allocation Equity Portfolio ( SWEGX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Equity Report area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into SWEGX too 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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