Is American Century Global Gold Investor (BGEIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you've been stuck searching for Sector - Precious Metal funds, consider American Century Global Gold Investor (BGEIX) as a possibility. BGEIX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.ObjectiveWe note that BGEIX is a Sector - Precious Metal option, and this area is loaded with different options. Sector - Precious Metal funds typically invest in companies that are involved in the mining and production of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Because stocks in this environment often trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity--they are tied to the prices of the metal--these equities tend to be volatile.History of Fund/ManagerAmerican Century is based in Kansas City, MO, and is the manager of BGEIX. American Century Global Gold Investor made its debut in August of 1988, and since then, BGEIX has accumulated about $638.80 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.PerformanceObviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 7.8%, and is in the bottom third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3 -year annualized total return of 10.45%, 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.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. Compared to the category average of 17.48%, the standard deviation of BGEIX over the past three years is 32.06%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 34.32% compared to the category average of 19.03%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.Risk FactorsWith a 5-year beta of 0.93, 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. With a negative alpha of -2.45, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.ExpensesFor investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, BGEIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.66% compared to the category average of 1.06%. So, BGEIX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.Bottom LineOverall, even with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, American Century Global Gold Investor ( BGEIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a great potential choice for investors right now.For additional information on the Sector - Precious Metal 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 BGEIX too for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.Research Chief Names "Single Best Pick to Double"From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. 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Quelle: Zacks
