If you have been looking for Small Cap Value funds, a place to start could be Fidelity Small Cap Value (FCPVX). FCPVX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Small Cap Value mutual funds is an area filled with options, such as FCPVX. Small Cap Value funds invest in small companies with stock market valuation less than $2 billion. These funds offer more bang for an owner's buck, providing low P/E ratios, high dividend yields, and better-than-average P/S ratios.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FCPVX. Fidelity Small Cap Value made its debut in November of 2004, and since then, FCPVX has accumulated about $1.66 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Derek Janssen is the fund's current manager and has held that role since January of 2013.
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 6.82%, 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 9.98%, which places it in the middle 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. Over the past three years, FCPVX's standard deviation comes in at 13.33%, compared to the category average of 10.39%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 12.96% compared to the category average of 10.2%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
One cannot ignore the volatility of this segment, however, as it is always important for investors to remember the downside to any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, FCPVX lost 49.99% and outperformed its peer group by 1.07%. These results could imply that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Nevertheless, investors should also note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.95, which means 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. FCPVX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.76, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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 largely on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 78.22% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $2.68 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Finance
- Other
- Industrial Cyclical
- Retail Trade
Turnover is 55%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.
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, FCPVX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.91% compared to the category average of 1.25%. FCPVX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Small Cap Value ( FCPVX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.
For additional information on the Small Cap Value 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 FCPVX too for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.
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