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Is Fidelity Four-In-One Index Fund (FFNOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Equity Report category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Fidelity Four-In-One Index Fund (FFNOX - Free Report) . The fund does not have a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, though we have been able to explore other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is responsible for FFNOX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. The Fidelity Four-In-One Index Fund made its debut in July of 1999 and FFNOX has managed to accumulate roughly $7.85 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Andrew Dierdorf who has been in charge of the fund since January of 2009.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. FFNOX has a 5-year annualized total return of 7.72% and it sits in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3 -year annualized total return of 8.7%, which places it in the top 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. Over the past three years, FFNOX's standard deviation comes in at 15.85%, compared to the category average of 14.53%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.25% compared to the category average of 15.4%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.85, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. FFNOX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.7, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, FFNOX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.08% compared to the category average of 0.85%. From a cost perspective, FFNOX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Your research on the Mutual Fund Equity Report 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. 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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