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Is Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio (FSAGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Looking for a Sector - Precious Metal fund? You may want to consider Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio (FSAGX - Free Report) as a possible option. FSAGX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We note that FSAGX is a Sector - Precious Metal option, and this area is loaded with different options. Sector - Precious Metal funds typically invest in companies that are involved in the mining and production of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Because stocks in this environment often trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity--they are tied to the prices of the metal--these equities tend to be volatile.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FSAGX. Since Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio made its debut in December of 1985, FSAGX has garnered more than $1.28 billion in assets. Colin Anderson is the fund's current manager and has held that role since August of 2023.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.63%, and it sits in the bottom 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 4.75%, which places it in the bottom third during this time-frame.

It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.

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 16.95%, the standard deviation of FSAGX over the past three years is 29.86%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 33.97% compared to the category average of 18.38%. 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 0.94, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. FSAGX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -3.23, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, FSAGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.68% compared to the category average of 1.04%. So, FSAGX 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.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Overall, even with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio ( FSAGX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about FSAGX? 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. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.


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