Any investors hoping to find a Sector - Precious Metal fund could think about starting with Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio (FSAGX Quick QuoteFSAGX - Free Report) . FSAGX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

FSAGX is classified in the Sector - Precious Metal segment by Zacks, an area full of potential. Sector - Precious Metal mutual funds normally invest in stocks focused on the mining and production of precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Often times, stocks here trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity, so they are tied to the prices of the metal, and can be quite volatile, too.

History of Fund/Manager

FSAGX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio made its debut in December of 1985, FSAGX has garnered more than $1.84 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by Ryan Oldham who has been in charge of the fund since November of 2024.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 7.95%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 11.23%, 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. Over the past three years, FSAGX's standard deviation comes in at 30.47%, compared to the category average of 16.61%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 29.73% compared to the category average of 16.28%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.54, 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 2.16. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, FSAGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.68% compared to the category average of 1.04%. FSAGX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while 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 high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a great potential choice for investors right now.

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