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Is Oppenheimer Global Fund A (OPPAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Global - Equity fund category, a potential starting could be Oppenheimer Global Fund A (OPPAX - Free Report) . OPPAX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We note that OPPAX is a Global - Equity option, an investment area loaded with different options. While Global - Equity mutual funds invest their assets in large markets--think the U.S., Europe, and Japan--they aren't limited by geography. Their investment technique is one that leverages the global economy in order to offer stable returns.

History of Fund/Manager

Oppenheimer is based in Denver, CO, and is the manager of OPPAX. Oppenheimer Global Fund A made its debut in December of 1969, and since then, OPPAX has accumulated about $6.78 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Rajeev Bahman, has been in charge of the fund since August of 2004.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 9.84%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 13.98%, 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 OPPAX over the past three years is 11.86% compared to the category average of 9.18%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 11.67% compared to the category average of 8.95%. 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 OPPAX's case, the fund lost 53.6% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 1.16%. This means that the fund could possibly be a better choice than its peers during a down 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. OPPAX has a 5-year beta of 1.07, which means it is likely to be more 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 negative alpha over the past 5 years of -4.27, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, OPPAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.09% compared to the category average of 1.19%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, OPPAX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Oppenheimer Global Fund A ( OPPAX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Oppenheimer Global Fund A ( OPPAX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Global - Equity 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 OPPAX too for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.


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