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Is BlackRock Global Allocation A (MDLOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you have been looking for Allocation Balanced fund category, a potential starting could be BlackRock Global Allocation A (MDLOX - Free Report) . MDLOX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
MDLOX is classified in the Allocation Balanced segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Here, investors are able to get a good head start with diversified mutual funds, and play around with core holding options for a portfolio of funds. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation.
History of Fund/Manager
MDLOX is a part of the BlackRock family of funds, a company based out of New York, NY. The BlackRock Global Allocation A made its debut in October of 1994 and MDLOX has managed to accumulate roughly $8.78 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Russ Koesterich who has been in charge of the fund since January of 2017.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. MDLOX has a 5-year annualized total return of 5.79%, and is in the middle 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 13.93%, 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. MDLOX's standard deviation over the past three years is 9.46% compared to the category average of 10.48%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 10.84% compared to the category average of 12.28%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.64, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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 -4.11, 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, MDLOX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.08% compared to the category average of 0.89%. So, MDLOX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to 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, BlackRock Global Allocation A ( MDLOX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this 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 Allocation Balanced, 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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Is BlackRock Global Allocation A (MDLOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you have been looking for Allocation Balanced fund category, a potential starting could be BlackRock Global Allocation A (MDLOX - Free Report) . MDLOX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
MDLOX is classified in the Allocation Balanced segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Here, investors are able to get a good head start with diversified mutual funds, and play around with core holding options for a portfolio of funds. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation.
History of Fund/Manager
MDLOX is a part of the BlackRock family of funds, a company based out of New York, NY. The BlackRock Global Allocation A made its debut in October of 1994 and MDLOX has managed to accumulate roughly $8.78 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Russ Koesterich who has been in charge of the fund since January of 2017.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. MDLOX has a 5-year annualized total return of 5.79%, and is in the middle 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 13.93%, 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. MDLOX's standard deviation over the past three years is 9.46% compared to the category average of 10.48%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 10.84% compared to the category average of 12.28%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.64, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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 -4.11, 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, MDLOX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.08% compared to the category average of 0.89%. So, MDLOX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to 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, BlackRock Global Allocation A ( MDLOX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this 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 Allocation Balanced, 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.