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Is American Century Global Gold Investor (BGEIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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There are plenty of choices in the Sector - Precious Metal category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is American Century Global Gold Investor (BGEIX - Free Report) . BGEIX carries 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 BGEIX 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
BGEIX is a part of the American Century family of funds, a company based out of Kansas City, MO. American Century Global Gold Investor made its debut in August of 1988, and since then, BGEIX has accumulated about $1.62 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 24.02%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 44.73%, which places it in the middle 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, BGEIX's standard deviation comes in at 35.39%, compared to the category average of 14.69%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 35.47% compared to the category average of 16.47%. 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 0.68, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. 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 19.69. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, BGEIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.66% compared to the category average of 1.03%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, BGEIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, American Century Global Gold Investor ( BGEIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on BGEIX in the Sector - Precious Metal category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well 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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Is American Century Global Gold Investor (BGEIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Sector - Precious Metal category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is American Century Global Gold Investor (BGEIX - Free Report) . BGEIX carries 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 BGEIX 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
BGEIX is a part of the American Century family of funds, a company based out of Kansas City, MO. American Century Global Gold Investor made its debut in August of 1988, and since then, BGEIX has accumulated about $1.62 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 24.02%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 44.73%, which places it in the middle 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, BGEIX's standard deviation comes in at 35.39%, compared to the category average of 14.69%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 35.47% compared to the category average of 16.47%. 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 0.68, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. 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 19.69. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, BGEIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.66% compared to the category average of 1.03%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, BGEIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, American Century Global Gold Investor ( BGEIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on BGEIX in the Sector - Precious Metal category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well 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.