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Is Fidelity Advisor Gold A (FGDAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you have been looking for Sector - Precious Metal fund category, a potential starting could be Fidelity Advisor Gold A (FGDAX - Free Report) . FGDAX bears 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 FGDAX is a Sector - Precious Metal option, and this area is loaded with different options. Sector - Precious Metal funds typically invest in companies that are involved in the mining and production of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Because stocks in this environment often trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity--they are tied to the prices of the metal--these equities tend to be volatile.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FGDAX. Since Fidelity Advisor Gold A made its debut in December of 2006, FGDAX has garnered more than $42.23 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by Joe Wickwire who has been in charge of the fund since August of 2007.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of -2.2%, and is 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 7.94%, 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 FGDAX over the past three years is 33.77% compared to the category average of 14.08%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 34.39% compared to the category average of 14.12%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. FGDAX lost 29.7% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 6.14%. This makes the fund a possibly better choice than its peers during a sliding 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. FGDAX has a 5-year beta of -0.08, which means it 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 3.73, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, FGDAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.19% compared to the category average of 1.36%. So, FGDAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Advisor Gold A ( FGDAX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Advisor Gold A ( FGDAX ) 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 - Precious Metal, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.
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Is Fidelity Advisor Gold A (FGDAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you have been looking for Sector - Precious Metal fund category, a potential starting could be Fidelity Advisor Gold A (FGDAX - Free Report) . FGDAX bears 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 FGDAX is a Sector - Precious Metal option, and this area is loaded with different options. Sector - Precious Metal funds typically invest in companies that are involved in the mining and production of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Because stocks in this environment often trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity--they are tied to the prices of the metal--these equities tend to be volatile.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FGDAX. Since Fidelity Advisor Gold A made its debut in December of 2006, FGDAX has garnered more than $42.23 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by Joe Wickwire who has been in charge of the fund since August of 2007.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of -2.2%, and is 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 7.94%, 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 FGDAX over the past three years is 33.77% compared to the category average of 14.08%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 34.39% compared to the category average of 14.12%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. FGDAX lost 29.7% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 6.14%. This makes the fund a possibly better choice than its peers during a sliding 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. FGDAX has a 5-year beta of -0.08, which means it 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 3.73, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, FGDAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.19% compared to the category average of 1.36%. So, FGDAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Advisor Gold A ( FGDAX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Advisor Gold A ( FGDAX ) 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 - Precious Metal, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.