We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience.
This includes personalizing content and advertising.
By pressing "Accept All" or closing out of this banner, you consent to the use of all cookies and similar technologies and the sharing of information they collect with third parties.
You can reject marketing cookies by pressing "Deny Optional," but we still use essential, performance, and functional cookies.
In addition, whether you "Accept All," Deny Optional," click the X or otherwise continue to use the site, you accept our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, revised from time to time.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
Is JHancock Regional Bank A (FRBAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Read MoreHide Full Article
On the lookout for a Sector - Finance fund? Starting with JHancock Regional Bank A (FRBAX - Free Report) is one possibility. FRBAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FRBAX is one of many Sector - Finance funds to choose from. Sector - Finance mutual funds provide investors with a diversified and stabilized investment approach focused on the financial space, which is a notoriously large, complex, and heavily-regulated industry. These funds include everything from insurance companies and exchanges to banks and investment giants; interest rates can impact the players of this space as well.
History of Fund/Manager
FRBAX is a part of the John Hancock family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. The JHancock Regional Bank A made its debut in January of 1992 and FRBAX has managed to accumulate roughly $625.86 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Susan Curry, has been in charge of the fund since May of 2006.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 5.31%, 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 26.3%, 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. The standard deviation of FRBAX over the past three years is 24.77% compared to the category average of 12.96%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 25.01% compared to the category average of 14.73%. 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 0.8, so it is likely going to be less 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. FRBAX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -4.1, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, FRBAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.20% compared to the category average of 0.98%. So, FRBAX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, 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, even with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, JHancock Regional Bank A ( FRBAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about FRBAX? 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.
View the Zacks #1 Rank List
Image: Bigstock
Is JHancock Regional Bank A (FRBAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
On the lookout for a Sector - Finance fund? Starting with JHancock Regional Bank A (FRBAX - Free Report) is one possibility. FRBAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FRBAX is one of many Sector - Finance funds to choose from. Sector - Finance mutual funds provide investors with a diversified and stabilized investment approach focused on the financial space, which is a notoriously large, complex, and heavily-regulated industry. These funds include everything from insurance companies and exchanges to banks and investment giants; interest rates can impact the players of this space as well.
History of Fund/Manager
FRBAX is a part of the John Hancock family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. The JHancock Regional Bank A made its debut in January of 1992 and FRBAX has managed to accumulate roughly $625.86 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Susan Curry, has been in charge of the fund since May of 2006.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 5.31%, 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 26.3%, 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. The standard deviation of FRBAX over the past three years is 24.77% compared to the category average of 12.96%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 25.01% compared to the category average of 14.73%. 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 0.8, so it is likely going to be less 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. FRBAX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -4.1, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, FRBAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.20% compared to the category average of 0.98%. So, FRBAX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, 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, even with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, JHancock Regional Bank A ( FRBAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about FRBAX? 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.