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Is Fidelity Select Retailing (FSRPX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Looking for a Sector - Other fund? You may want to consider Fidelity Select Retailing (FSRPX - Free Report) as a possible option. FSRPX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

FSRPX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Select Retailing made its debut in December of 1985, FSRPX has garnered more than $2.32 billion in assets. The fund's current manager, Nicola Stafford, has been in charge of the fund since October of 2016.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 20.35%, 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 16.59%, 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. FSRPX's standard deviation over the past three years is 11.86% compared to the category average of 13.49%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 12.64% compared to the category average of 13.17%. 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 FSRPX's case, the fund lost 40.11% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 8.3%. This means that the fund could possibly be a better choice than its peers during a down market environment.

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. FSRPX has a 5-year beta of 1.07, which means it is likely to be more 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 4.32. 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, FSRPX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.78% compared to the category average of 1.17%. So, FSRPX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Select Retailing has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Select Retailing looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on FSRPXin the Sector - Other 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.


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