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Is Invesco Gold & Special Minerals A (OPGSX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, a place to start could be Invesco Gold & Special Minerals A (OPGSX - Free Report) . OPGSX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

OPGSX finds itself in the Invesco family, based out of Kansas City, MO. The Invesco Gold & Special Minerals A made its debut in July of 1983 and OPGSX has managed to accumulate roughly $733.35 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Shanquan Li, has been in charge of the fund since July of 1997.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 9.55%, 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 -9.08%, 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. Compared to the category average of 16.86%, the standard deviation of OPGSX over the past three years is 32.31%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 34.51% compared to the category average of 18.44%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1, the fund is likely to be as volatile as 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 3.58, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, OPGSX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.06% compared to the category average of 1.33%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, OPGSX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

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

Bottom Line

Overall, Invesco Gold & Special Minerals A ( OPGSX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Invesco Gold & Special Minerals A ( OPGSX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Equity Report, 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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