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Is Fidelity Select Banking (FSRBX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Having trouble finding a Sector - Finance fund? Fidelity Select Banking (FSRBX - Free Report) is a possible starting point. FSRBX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FSRBX is one of many Sector - Finance funds to choose from. Sector - Finance mutual funds provide investors with a diversified and stabilized investment approach focused on the financial space, which is a notoriously large, complex, and heavily-regulated industry. These funds include everything from insurance companies and exchanges to banks and investment giants; interest rates can impact the players of this space as well.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is responsible for FSRBX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. The Fidelity Select Banking made its debut in June of 1986 and FSRBX has managed to accumulate roughly $551.11 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Matt Reed, has been in charge of the fund since September of 2016.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 9.33%, 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 10.02%, 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 15.47%, the standard deviation of FSRBX over the past three years is 18.62%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.63% compared to the category average of 14.24%. 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 the most recent bear market, FSRBX lost 66.58% and outperformed its peer group by 5.96%. This makes the fund a possibly better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 1.11, the fund 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -2.07. This means 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, FSRBX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.77% compared to the category average of 1.43%. FSRBX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Select Banking ( FSRBX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Sector - Finance, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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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Is Fidelity Select Banking (FSRBX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Having trouble finding a Sector - Finance fund? Fidelity Select Banking (FSRBX - Free Report) is a possible starting point. FSRBX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FSRBX is one of many Sector - Finance funds to choose from. Sector - Finance mutual funds provide investors with a diversified and stabilized investment approach focused on the financial space, which is a notoriously large, complex, and heavily-regulated industry. These funds include everything from insurance companies and exchanges to banks and investment giants; interest rates can impact the players of this space as well.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is responsible for FSRBX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. The Fidelity Select Banking made its debut in June of 1986 and FSRBX has managed to accumulate roughly $551.11 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Matt Reed, has been in charge of the fund since September of 2016.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 9.33%, 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 10.02%, 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 15.47%, the standard deviation of FSRBX over the past three years is 18.62%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.63% compared to the category average of 14.24%. 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 the most recent bear market, FSRBX lost 66.58% and outperformed its peer group by 5.96%. This makes the fund a possibly better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 1.11, the fund 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -2.07. This means 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, FSRBX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.77% compared to the category average of 1.43%. FSRBX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Select Banking ( FSRBX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Sector - Finance, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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.