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Is Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund (FDEGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you have been looking for All Cap Growth funds, a place to start could be Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund (FDEGX - Free Report) . FDEGX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

Tickers is classified in the All Cap Growth segment by Zacks, an area full of possibilities. All Cap Growth funds have holdings across small, medium, and large-cap levels in order to increase diversification. As long as stocks demonstrate strong growth characteristics, these portfolios will invest in various equity securities regardless of company size.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is responsible for FDEGX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund made its debut in December of 1990, and since then, FDEGX has accumulated about $2.66 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Jean Park who has been in charge of the fund since August of 2013.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. FDEGX has a 5-year annualized total return of 13.03% 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 11.4%, which places it in the middle 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. FDEGX's standard deviation over the past three years is 8.75% compared to the category average of 10.63%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 9.75% compared to the category average of 10.32%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

One cannot ignore the volatility of this segment, however, as it is always important for investors to remember the downside to any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, FDEGX lost 58.58% and outperformed its peer group by 7.16%. These results could imply that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.

Nevertheless, investors should also note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.94, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -0.42. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, FDEGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.63% compared to the category average of 1.10%. FDEGX 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 $2,500 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Growth Strategies Fund ( FDEGX ) 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 this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the All Cap Growth, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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.


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