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

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There are plenty of choices in the All Cap Growth category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund (FDEGX - Free Report) . FDEGX bears 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 responsible for FDEGX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund made its debut in December of 1990, FDEGX has garnered more than $3.88 billion in assets. The fund's current manager, Shilpa Mehra, has been in charge of the fund since May of 2024.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 9.9%, 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 19.47%, 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. The standard deviation of FDEGX over the past three years is 18.37% compared to the category average of 11.44%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 20.56% compared to the category average of 13.54%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. FDEGX has a 5-year beta of 1.2, which means it is likely to be more volatile than the market average. 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -5.04. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Investigating the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.

The mutual fund currently has 75.28% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $43.04 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  • Technology
  • Industrial Cyclical
  • Retail Trade

This fund's turnover is about 58%, so the fund managers are making fewer trades than comparable funds.

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 0.69% compared to the category average of 0.95%. FDEGX 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 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, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund ( FDEGX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about FDEGX? 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. 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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