We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
Is Fidelity Small Cap Growth (FCPGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Read MoreHide Full Article
If you have been looking for Small Cap Growth funds, a place to start could be Fidelity Small Cap Growth (FCPGX - Free Report) . FCPGX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Small Cap Growth funds is an area filled with options, such as FCPGX. These funds tend to create their portfolios around stocks that sport large growth opportunities and market capitalization of less than $2 billion. The companies in these portfolios are usually on the smaller side, and are in up-and-coming industries and markets.
History of Fund/Manager
FCPGX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Small Cap Growth debuted in November of 2004. Since then, FCPGX has accumulated assets of about $3.27 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Patrick Venanzi who has been in charge of the fund since November of 2011.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 15.65%, 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 14.99%, 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. Compared to the category average of 9.71%, the standard deviation of FCPGX over the past three years is 12.03%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 12.48% compared to the category average of 9.54%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, FCPGX lost 55.12% and outperformed its peer group by 1.99%. These results could imply that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.89, 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. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 3.95, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Investigating the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 93.76% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $4.39 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Other
Health
Services
With turnover at about 97%, this fund is making more trades in a given year than the category average.
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, FCPGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.02% compared to the category average of 1.31%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FCPGX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Small Cap Growth ( FCPGX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Small Cap Growth area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into FCPGX too for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.
See More Zacks Research for These Tickers
Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:
Image: Bigstock
Is Fidelity Small Cap Growth (FCPGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you have been looking for Small Cap Growth funds, a place to start could be Fidelity Small Cap Growth (FCPGX - Free Report) . FCPGX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Small Cap Growth funds is an area filled with options, such as FCPGX. These funds tend to create their portfolios around stocks that sport large growth opportunities and market capitalization of less than $2 billion. The companies in these portfolios are usually on the smaller side, and are in up-and-coming industries and markets.
History of Fund/Manager
FCPGX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Small Cap Growth debuted in November of 2004. Since then, FCPGX has accumulated assets of about $3.27 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Patrick Venanzi who has been in charge of the fund since November of 2011.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 15.65%, 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 14.99%, 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. Compared to the category average of 9.71%, the standard deviation of FCPGX over the past three years is 12.03%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 12.48% compared to the category average of 9.54%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, FCPGX lost 55.12% and outperformed its peer group by 1.99%. These results could imply that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.89, 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. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 3.95, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Investigating the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 93.76% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $4.39 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Other
- Health
- Services
With turnover at about 97%, this fund is making more trades in a given year than the category average.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, FCPGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.02% compared to the category average of 1.31%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FCPGX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Small Cap Growth ( FCPGX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Small Cap Growth area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into FCPGX too for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.