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Is T. Rowe Price New Era (PRNEX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Having trouble finding a Sector - Energy fund? T. Rowe Price New Era (PRNEX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. PRNEX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

Zacks categorizes PRNEX as Sector - Energy, a segment packed with options. Sector - Energy mutual funds encompass a wide range of vastly changing and vitally important industries throughout this massive global sector. Oil and gas comprise the bulk of the exposure here, and carbon-based fuels are going to be the majority of assets in these funds. However, clean energy is starting to pick up steam.

History of Fund/Manager

PRNEX is a part of the T. Rowe Price family of funds, a company based out of Baltimore, MD. T. Rowe Price New Era made its debut in January of 1969, and since then, PRNEX has accumulated about $1.15 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Shinwoo Kim, has been in charge of the fund since June of 2021.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 12.25%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 14.23%, 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. Over the past three years, PRNEX's standard deviation comes in at 14.54%, compared to the category average of 14.36%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 17.87% compared to the category average of 16.8%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.71, the fund 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. PRNEX's 5-year performance has produced a positive alpha of 2.48, which means managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, PRNEX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.75% compared to the category average of 1.00%. From a cost perspective, PRNEX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Overall, T. Rowe Price New Era ( PRNEX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, T. Rowe Price New Era ( PRNEX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about PRNEX? 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. 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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