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Is Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund (FDEGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If investors are looking at the All Cap Growth fund category, Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund (FDEGX - Free Report) could be a potential option. FDEGX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We note that FDEGX is a All Cap Growth option, and is loaded with different selections. All Cap Growth mutual funds look to invest in a wide variety of equities, no matter the size of the company and as long as the firm exhibits growth characteristics. In order to increase diversification, these portfolios have holdings across small, medium, and large-cap levels.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FDEGX. Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund made its debut in December of 1990, and since then, FDEGX has accumulated about $3.98 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Shilpa Mehra is the fund's current manager and has held that role since May of 2024.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 12.26%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 20.27%, which places it in the top 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. FDEGX's standard deviation over the past three years is 20.12% compared to the category average of 17.65%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 21.01% compared to the category average of 17.26%. 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 1.17, 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. With a negative alpha of -3.31, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, FDEGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.68% compared to the category average of 1.00%. FDEGX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $0; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

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

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund ( FDEGX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund ( FDEGX ) 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 All Cap Growth, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.


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