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Is Direxion Monthly NASDAQ-100 Bull 1.75X Investor (DXQLX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Have you been searching for an Index fund? You might want to begin with Direxion Monthly NASDAQ-100 Bull 1.75X Investor (DXQLX - Free Report) . While this fund is not tracked by the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we were able to examine other factors like performance, volatility, and cost.

History of Fund/Manager

Direxion Funds is based in Newton, MA, and is the manager of DXQLX. The Direxion Monthly NASDAQ-100 Bull 1.75X Investor made its debut in May of 2006 and DXQLX has managed to accumulate roughly $431.45 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Tony Ng is the fund's current manager and has held that role since May of 2006.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 33.37%, and it sits 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 13.25%, 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. DXQLX's standard deviation over the past three years is 42.04% compared to the category average of 36.95%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 42.01% compared to the category average of 38.65%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 2.13, so it is likely going to be 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. DXQLX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 7.46, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Exploring the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.

Right now, 75.75% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks and it has a negligible amount of assets in foreign securities. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  • Other
  • Finance
With turnover at about 0%, this fund is making fewer trades than comparable funds.

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, DXQLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.35% compared to the category average of 1.91%. From a cost perspective, DXQLX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $25,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $500

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

Bottom Line

Don't stop here for your research on Index funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare DXQLX to its peers as well for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.


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