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Is Fidelity Select Leisure (FDLSX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Any investors hoping to find a Sector - Other fund could think about starting with Fidelity Select Leisure (FDLSX). FDLSX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is responsible for FDLSX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Select Leisure made its debut in May of 1984, FDLSX has garnered more than $564.01 million in assets. Becky Baker is the fund's current manager and has held that role since August of 2017.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 13.76%, and it sits 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 8.76%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.

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 FDLSX over the past three years is 26.52% compared to the category average of 24.35%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 21.34% compared to the category average of 19.95%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.24, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -4.45, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, FDLSX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.77% compared to the category average of 1.26%. From a cost perspective, FDLSX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Select Leisure ( FDLSX ) 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.

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 are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.


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