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Is Fidelity Latin American Fund (FLATX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, it would not be wise to start your search with Fidelity Latin American Fund (FLATX - Free Report) . FLATX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FLATX. Since Fidelity Latin American Fund made its debut in April of 1993, FLATX has garnered more than $217.38 million in assets. William Pruett is the fund's current manager and has held that role since October of 2015.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. FLATX has a 5-year annualized total return of -0.8% and it sits in the bottom 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 4.98%, which places it in the bottom 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. FLATX's standard deviation over the past three years is 28.1% compared to the category average of 16.19%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 31.85% compared to the category average of 17.8%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.16, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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 negative alpha over the past 5 years of -8.86, which shows 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, FLATX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.07% compared to the category average of 1.13%. From a cost perspective, FLATX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while 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
Overall, Fidelity Latin American Fund ( FLATX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
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 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.
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Is Fidelity Latin American Fund (FLATX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, it would not be wise to start your search with Fidelity Latin American Fund (FLATX - Free Report) . FLATX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FLATX. Since Fidelity Latin American Fund made its debut in April of 1993, FLATX has garnered more than $217.38 million in assets. William Pruett is the fund's current manager and has held that role since October of 2015.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. FLATX has a 5-year annualized total return of -0.8% and it sits in the bottom 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 4.98%, which places it in the bottom 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. FLATX's standard deviation over the past three years is 28.1% compared to the category average of 16.19%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 31.85% compared to the category average of 17.8%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.16, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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 negative alpha over the past 5 years of -8.86, which shows 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, FLATX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.07% compared to the category average of 1.13%. From a cost perspective, FLATX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while 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
Overall, Fidelity Latin American Fund ( FLATX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
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 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.