Is Fidelity Select Insurance (FSPCX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you have been looking for Sector - Finance funds, a place to start could be Fidelity Select Insurance (FSPCX). FSPCX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FSPCX is one of many Sector - Finance funds to choose from. Sector - Finance mutual funds provide investors with a diversified and stabilized investment approach focused on the financial space, which is a notoriously large, complex, and heavily-regulated industry. These funds include everything from insurance companies and exchanges to banks and investment giants; interest rates can impact the players of this space as well.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is responsible for FSPCX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Select Insurance made its debut in December of 1985, and since then, FSPCX has accumulated about $1.01 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Fahim Razzaque who has been in charge of the fund since July of 2022.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. FSPCX has a 5-year annualized total return of 22.66% 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 17.55%, 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.
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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 FSPCX over the past three years is 16.69% compared to the category average of 23.36%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 17.17% compared to the category average of 22.6%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.74, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 9.89. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.