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Is Fidelity Puritan Fund (FPURX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Allocation Balanced fund seekers should consider taking a look at Fidelity Puritan Fund (FPURX - Free Report) . FPURX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FPURX is classified in the Allocation Balanced segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Here, investors are able to get a good head start with diversified mutual funds, and play around with core holding options for a portfolio of funds. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FPURX. Since Fidelity Puritan Fund made its debut in April of 1947, FPURX has garnered more than $27.59 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by Daniel Kelley who has been in charge of the fund since July of 2018.
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 11.36%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 5.93%, 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. The standard deviation of FPURX over the past three years is 13.45% compared to the category average of 13.46%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 13.19% compared to the category average of 13.98%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.71, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -0.15. 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, FPURX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.49% compared to the category average of 0.89%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FPURX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $0; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Puritan Fund ( FPURX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Allocation Balanced area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into FPURX too 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 Puritan Fund (FPURX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Allocation Balanced fund seekers should consider taking a look at Fidelity Puritan Fund (FPURX - Free Report) . FPURX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FPURX is classified in the Allocation Balanced segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Here, investors are able to get a good head start with diversified mutual funds, and play around with core holding options for a portfolio of funds. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FPURX. Since Fidelity Puritan Fund made its debut in April of 1947, FPURX has garnered more than $27.59 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by Daniel Kelley who has been in charge of the fund since July of 2018.
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 11.36%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 5.93%, 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. The standard deviation of FPURX over the past three years is 13.45% compared to the category average of 13.46%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 13.19% compared to the category average of 13.98%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.71, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -0.15. 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, FPURX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.49% compared to the category average of 0.89%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FPURX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $0; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Puritan Fund ( FPURX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Allocation Balanced area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into FPURX too 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.