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Is Fidelity Select Defense & Aerospace (FSDAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Sector - Other funds, a place to start could be Fidelity Select Defense & Aerospace (FSDAX - Free Report) . FSDAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is responsible for FSDAX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. The Fidelity Select Defense & Aerospace made its debut in May of 1984 and FSDAX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.65 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Clayton Pfannenstiel who has been in charge of the fund since December of 2021.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. FSDAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 7.94% and is 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 7.55%, 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. FSDAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 19.7% compared to the category average of 22.13%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 24.01% compared to the category average of 23.67%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. FSDAX has a 5-year beta of 0.98, which means it is likely to be as volatile as the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -5.32. This means 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, FSDAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.73% compared to the category average of 0.86%. So, FSDAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

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

Overall, even with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Select Defense & Aerospace ( FSDAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a great potential choice for investors right now.

Your research on the Sector - Other 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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