Is Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio (FSAGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Sector - Precious Metal category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio (FSAGX). FSAGX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.ObjectiveFSAGX is classified in the Sector - Precious Metal segment by Zacks, an area full of potential. Sector - Precious Metal mutual funds normally invest in stocks focused on the mining and production of precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Often times, stocks here trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity, so they are tied to the prices of the metal, and can be quite volatile, too.History of Fund/ManagerFSAGX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio debuted in December of 1985. Since then, FSAGX has accumulated assets of about $2.83 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Boris Shepov, has been in charge of the fund since December of 2024.PerformanceObviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. FSAGX has a 5-year annualized total return of 11.9%, and is in the bottom 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 40.36%, which places it in the bottom 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. FSAGX's standard deviation over the past three years is 31.02% compared to the category average of 15.17%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 30.86% compared to the category average of 16.2%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.Risk FactorsWith a 5-year beta of 0.51, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. FSAGX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 5.57, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.ExpensesAs 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, FSAGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.66% compared to the category average of 1.04%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FSAGX is actually cheaper than its peers.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 consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.Bottom LineOverall, even with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio ( FSAGX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a great potential choice for investors right now.Your research on the Sector - Precious Metal 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. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.Zacks Naming Top 10 Stocks for 2026Want to be tipped off early to our 10 top picks for the entirety of 2026? History suggests their performance could be sensational.From 2012 (when our Director of Research Sheraz Mian assumed responsibility for the portfolio) through November, 2025, the Zacks Top 10 Stocks gained +2,530.8%, more than QUADRUPLING the S&P 500’s +570.3%.Now Sheraz is combing through 4,400 companies to handpick the best 10 tickers to buy and hold in 2026. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these stocks when they’re released on January 5. Be First to New Top 10 Stocks >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Get Your Free (FSAGX): Fund Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks
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