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Is Fidelity Select Materials (FSDPX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you have been looking for Sector - Energy funds, it would not be wise to start your search with Fidelity Select Materials (FSDPX - Free Report) . FSDPX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
Zacks categorizes FSDPX as Sector - Energy, a segment packed with options. Sector - Energy mutual funds encompass a wide range of vastly changing and vitally important industries throughout this massive global sector. Oil and gas comprise the bulk of the exposure here, and carbon-based fuels are going to be the majority of assets in these funds. However, clean energy is starting to pick up steam.
History of Fund/Manager
FSDPX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Select Materials made its debut in September of 1986, and since then, FSDPX has accumulated about $749.20 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Richard Malnight, has been in charge of the fund since November of 2017.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 5.06%, and is 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 11.41%, 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 11.28%, the standard deviation of FSDPX over the past three years is 15.01%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 14.37% compared to the category average of 10.79%. 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 FSDPX's case, the fund lost 53.72% in the most recent bear market and underperformed its peer group by 1.49%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Even still, the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.24, 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. FSDPX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -10.19, which means 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, FSDPX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.79% compared to the category average of 1.48%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FSDPX 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 Select Materials ( FSDPX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Select Materials ( FSDPX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
Your research on the Sector - Energy segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer 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 Fidelity Select Materials (FSDPX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you have been looking for Sector - Energy funds, it would not be wise to start your search with Fidelity Select Materials (FSDPX - Free Report) . FSDPX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
Zacks categorizes FSDPX as Sector - Energy, a segment packed with options. Sector - Energy mutual funds encompass a wide range of vastly changing and vitally important industries throughout this massive global sector. Oil and gas comprise the bulk of the exposure here, and carbon-based fuels are going to be the majority of assets in these funds. However, clean energy is starting to pick up steam.
History of Fund/Manager
FSDPX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Select Materials made its debut in September of 1986, and since then, FSDPX has accumulated about $749.20 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Richard Malnight, has been in charge of the fund since November of 2017.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 5.06%, and is 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 11.41%, 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 11.28%, the standard deviation of FSDPX over the past three years is 15.01%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 14.37% compared to the category average of 10.79%. 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 FSDPX's case, the fund lost 53.72% in the most recent bear market and underperformed its peer group by 1.49%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Even still, the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.24, 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. FSDPX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -10.19, which means 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, FSDPX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.79% compared to the category average of 1.48%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FSDPX 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 Select Materials ( FSDPX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Select Materials ( FSDPX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
Your research on the Sector - Energy segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer 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.