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Is Fidelity Overseas Fund (FOSFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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There are plenty of choices in the Non US - Equity category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that you should consider investigating is Fidelity Overseas Fund (FOSFX - Free Report) . FOSFX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FOSFX is classified in the Non US - Equity area by Zacks, and this segment is full of potential. Non US - Equity funds focus their investments on companies outside of the United States, which is an important distinction since global mutual funds tend to keep a sizable portion of their portfolio based in the United States. Most of these funds will allocate across emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FOSFX. The Fidelity Overseas Fund made its debut in December of 1984 and FOSFX has managed to accumulate roughly $5.34 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Vincent Montemaggiore, has been in charge of the fund since January of 2012.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 6.25%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 13.05%, 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. Compared to the category average of 12.79%, the standard deviation of FOSFX over the past three years is 13.26%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 17.13% compared to the category average of 15.26%. 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. FOSFX has a 5-year beta of 0.94, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. FOSFX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -5.63, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, FOSFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.55% compared to the category average of 0.93%. So, FOSFX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Overseas Fund ( FOSFX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Overseas Fund ( FOSFX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about FOSFX? 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. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.
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Is Fidelity Overseas Fund (FOSFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Non US - Equity category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that you should consider investigating is Fidelity Overseas Fund (FOSFX - Free Report) . FOSFX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FOSFX is classified in the Non US - Equity area by Zacks, and this segment is full of potential. Non US - Equity funds focus their investments on companies outside of the United States, which is an important distinction since global mutual funds tend to keep a sizable portion of their portfolio based in the United States. Most of these funds will allocate across emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FOSFX. The Fidelity Overseas Fund made its debut in December of 1984 and FOSFX has managed to accumulate roughly $5.34 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Vincent Montemaggiore, has been in charge of the fund since January of 2012.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 6.25%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 13.05%, 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. Compared to the category average of 12.79%, the standard deviation of FOSFX over the past three years is 13.26%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 17.13% compared to the category average of 15.26%. 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. FOSFX has a 5-year beta of 0.94, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. FOSFX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -5.63, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, FOSFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.55% compared to the category average of 0.93%. So, FOSFX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Overseas Fund ( FOSFX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Overseas Fund ( FOSFX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about FOSFX? 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. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.