Looking for a Allocation Balanced fund? You may want to consider Direxion Monthly NASDAQ-100 Bull 1.75X Investor (DXQLX Quick QuoteDXQLX - Free Report) as a possible option. While this fund is not tracked by the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we were able to examine other factors like performance, volatility, and cost.

Objective

DXQLX 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

Direxion Funds is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of DXQLX. Since Direxion Monthly NASDAQ-100 Bull 1.75X Investor made its debut in May of 2006, DXQLX has garnered more than $599.74 million in assets. The fund's current manager, Tony Ng, has been in charge of the fund since May of 2006.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 15.26%, and is in the top 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 36.25%, which places it in the top 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 DXQLX over the past three years is 30.13% compared to the category average of 30.91%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 37.74% compared to the category average of 35.25%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 2.25, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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 negative alpha of -3.01. This means 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, DXQLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.30% compared to the category average of 1.88%. DXQLX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $25,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $500.

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

Bottom Line

This could just be the start of your research on DXQLX in the Allocation Balanced 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. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.