IIf you are looking for balanced allocation funds, a place to start could be the Fidelity Balanced Fund (FBALX). FBALX carries a Zacks mutual fund rank of 1 (strong buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors such as size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

Zacks’ world of balanced allocation funds is a field filled with options, such as FBALX. These funds like to invest in a variety of asset types, finding a balance between stocks, bonds, cash and sometimes even precious metals and commodities; they are mainly classified according to their respective asset allocation. For investors, balanced allocation funds can provide an entry point into diversified mutual funds and present basic holding options for a portfolio of funds.

Fund / manager history

Fidelity is responsible for FBALX, and the company is based in Boston, MA. The Fidelity Balanced Fund debuted in November 1986. Since then, FBALX has accumulated assets of approximately $ 36.57 billion, according to the latest information available. The current fund manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally look for high performance funds. This fund generated a total annualized return over 5 years of 14.61% and is in the top third of its category. Investors who prefer to analyze shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 16.28%, which puts it in the top third over that time frame.

When looking at the performance of a fund, it is also important to note the standard deviation of returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. The standard deviation of FBALX over the past three years is 14.17% compared to the category average of 14%. The fund’s standard deviation over the past 5 years is 11.4% compared to the category average of 11.5%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half decade.

Risk factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.74, so it will likely be less volatile than the market as a whole. Since alpha represents the performance of a portfolio on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, it is worth paying attention to this metric as well. With a positive alpha of 1.03, the managers of this portfolio are adept at selecting stocks that generate returns above the benchmark.

Expenses

For investors, it is essential to take a closer look at the parameters related to costs, as costs are increasingly important for investments in mutual funds. Competition is intensifying in this space, and a lower cost product is likely to outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all other things being equal. In terms of fees, FBALX is a no-fee fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.51% compared to the category average of 0.89%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FBALX is actually less expensive 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.

Final result

Overall, the Fidelity Balanced Fund (FBALX) ranks high among the Zacks mutual funds, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, medium downside risk and lower fees, the Fidelity Balanced Fund (FBALX ) seems like a good potential choice for investors at this time.

For more information on the balanced allocation area of ​​the mutual fund world, be sure to visit www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There you can learn more about the ranking process and dive even deeper into FBALX for additional information. If you’d like to check out our inventory reports as well, be sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our proven Zacks Rankings.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.