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Is Gabelli Gold Fund AAA (GOLDX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If investors are looking at the Sector - Precious Metal fund category, make sure to pass over Gabelli Gold Fund AAA (GOLDX - Free Report) . GOLDX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Sector - Precious Metal funds is an area filled with options, such as GOLDX. Usually, Sector - Precious Metal mutual funds invest in stocks with a focus on the mining and production of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Here, stocks often trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity, meaning they're tied to the metal's prices and can be volatile.
History of Fund/Manager
GOLDX is a part of the Gabelli Funds family of funds, a company based out of Rye, NY. Since Gabelli Gold Fund AAA made its debut in July of 1994, GOLDX has garnered more than $154.64 million in assets. The fund's current manager, Caesar M.P. Bryan, has been in charge of the fund since July of 1994.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of -2.24%, and it sits 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 4.84%, 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. The standard deviation of GOLDX over the past three years is 37.32% compared to the category average of 16.06%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 37.92% compared to the category average of 15.77%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. In GOLDX's case, the fund lost 35.55% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 0.55%. These results could imply that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a sliding 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. GOLDX has a 5-year beta of 0.02, 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. GOLDX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 4.03, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, GOLDX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.52% compared to the category average of 1.37%. From a cost perspective, GOLDX is actually more expensive than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Gabelli Gold Fund AAA has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Gabelli Gold Fund AAA looks like a poor potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on GOLDX in the Sector - Precious Metal 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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Is Gabelli Gold Fund AAA (GOLDX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If investors are looking at the Sector - Precious Metal fund category, make sure to pass over Gabelli Gold Fund AAA (GOLDX - Free Report) . GOLDX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Sector - Precious Metal funds is an area filled with options, such as GOLDX. Usually, Sector - Precious Metal mutual funds invest in stocks with a focus on the mining and production of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Here, stocks often trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity, meaning they're tied to the metal's prices and can be volatile.
History of Fund/Manager
GOLDX is a part of the Gabelli Funds family of funds, a company based out of Rye, NY. Since Gabelli Gold Fund AAA made its debut in July of 1994, GOLDX has garnered more than $154.64 million in assets. The fund's current manager, Caesar M.P. Bryan, has been in charge of the fund since July of 1994.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of -2.24%, and it sits 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 4.84%, 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. The standard deviation of GOLDX over the past three years is 37.32% compared to the category average of 16.06%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 37.92% compared to the category average of 15.77%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. In GOLDX's case, the fund lost 35.55% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 0.55%. These results could imply that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a sliding 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. GOLDX has a 5-year beta of 0.02, 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. GOLDX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 4.03, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, GOLDX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.52% compared to the category average of 1.37%. From a cost perspective, GOLDX is actually more expensive than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Gabelli Gold Fund AAA has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Gabelli Gold Fund AAA looks like a poor potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on GOLDX in the Sector - Precious Metal 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.