We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
Is Fidelity Advisor Financial Services A (FAFDX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Read MoreHide Full Article
Any investors hoping to find a Sector - Finance fund could think about starting with Fidelity Advisor Financial Services A (FAFDX - Free Report) . FAFDX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FAFDX 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 FAFDX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. The Fidelity Advisor Financial Services A made its debut in September of 1996 and FAFDX has managed to accumulate roughly $191.82 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 June of 2019.
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 13.13%, 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 8.91%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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 FAFDX over the past three years is 21.31% compared to the category average of 15.89%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 24.84% compared to the category average of 17.29%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 1.09, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. 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. FAFDX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -1.47, demonstrating 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, FAFDX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.04% compared to the category average of 1.01%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FAFDX is actually more expensive than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Fidelity Advisor Financial Services A ( FAFDX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential 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. 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.
See More Zacks Research for These Tickers
Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:
Image: Bigstock
Is Fidelity Advisor Financial Services A (FAFDX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Any investors hoping to find a Sector - Finance fund could think about starting with Fidelity Advisor Financial Services A (FAFDX - Free Report) . FAFDX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FAFDX 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 FAFDX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. The Fidelity Advisor Financial Services A made its debut in September of 1996 and FAFDX has managed to accumulate roughly $191.82 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 June of 2019.
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 13.13%, 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 8.91%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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 FAFDX over the past three years is 21.31% compared to the category average of 15.89%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 24.84% compared to the category average of 17.29%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 1.09, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. 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. FAFDX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -1.47, demonstrating 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, FAFDX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.04% compared to the category average of 1.01%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FAFDX is actually more expensive than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Fidelity Advisor Financial Services A ( FAFDX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential 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. 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.