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Is Fidelity Select Financial Services (FIDSX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Equity Report fund category, Fidelity Select Financial Services (FIDSX - Free Report) could be a potential option. FIDSX possesses 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

FIDSX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. The Fidelity Select Financial Services made its debut in December of 1981 and FIDSX has managed to accumulate roughly $613.62 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Matt Reed is the fund's current manager and has held that role since June of 2019.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 9.26%, and is 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 10.58%, 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. Compared to the category average of 26.69%, the standard deviation of FIDSX over the past three years is 26.35%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 22.89% compared to the category average of 23.26%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.11, so investors should note that 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. FIDSX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -3.37, which means 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, FIDSX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.72% compared to the category average of 1.46%. From a cost perspective, FIDSX is actually cheaper than its peers.

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 Select Financial Services ( FIDSX ) 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.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Equity Report, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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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