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Is Fidelity Overseas Fund (FOSFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you're looking for a Non US - Equity fund category, then a potential option is Fidelity Overseas Fund (FOSFX - Free Report) . FOSFX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
Zacks categorizes FOSFX as Non US - Equity, a segment stacked high with options. Non US - Equity mutual funds like to invest in companies outside of the United States, an important characteristic since global mutual funds are known to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. These kinds of funds can often extend across all cap levels, and will typically allocate their investments between emerging and developed markets.
History of Fund/Manager
FOSFX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Overseas Fund made its debut in December of 1984, FOSFX has garnered more than $7.19 billion in assets. The fund's current manager, Vincent Montemaggiore, has been in charge of the fund since January of 2012.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 8.30%, and it sits in the top 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 8.58%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
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. FOSFX's standard deviation over the past three years is 11.44% compared to the category average of 10.57%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 10.94% compared to the category average of 11.95%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. In the most recent bear market, FOSFX lost 60.24% and underperformed comparable funds by 1.86%. This might suggest that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a bear market.
Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. FOSFX has a 5-year beta of 0.87, which means it is likely to be less 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. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 4.78, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it easy 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, FOSFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1% compared to the category average of 1.29%. FOSFX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Overseas Fund has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Overseas Fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Non US - Equity, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.
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Is Fidelity Overseas Fund (FOSFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you're looking for a Non US - Equity fund category, then a potential option is Fidelity Overseas Fund (FOSFX - Free Report) . FOSFX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
Zacks categorizes FOSFX as Non US - Equity, a segment stacked high with options. Non US - Equity mutual funds like to invest in companies outside of the United States, an important characteristic since global mutual funds are known to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. These kinds of funds can often extend across all cap levels, and will typically allocate their investments between emerging and developed markets.
History of Fund/Manager
FOSFX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Overseas Fund made its debut in December of 1984, FOSFX has garnered more than $7.19 billion in assets. The fund's current manager, Vincent Montemaggiore, has been in charge of the fund since January of 2012.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 8.30%, and it sits in the top 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 8.58%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
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. FOSFX's standard deviation over the past three years is 11.44% compared to the category average of 10.57%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 10.94% compared to the category average of 11.95%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. In the most recent bear market, FOSFX lost 60.24% and underperformed comparable funds by 1.86%. This might suggest that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a bear market.
Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. FOSFX has a 5-year beta of 0.87, which means it is likely to be less 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. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 4.78, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it easy 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, FOSFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1% compared to the category average of 1.29%. FOSFX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Overseas Fund has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Overseas Fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Non US - Equity, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.