Mutual Fund Equity Report fund seekers should consider taking a look at American Century Global Gold Investor (BGEIX). BGEIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
BGEIX is a part of the American Century family of funds, a company based out of Kansas City, MO. Since American Century Global Gold Investor made its debut in August of 1988, BGEIX has garnered more than $663.41 million in assets. The fund's current manager, Yulin Long, has been in charge of the fund since May of 2016.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 10.75%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 18.88%, which places it in the bottom 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. Compared to the category average of 19.13%, the standard deviation of BGEIX over the past three years is 35.7%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 29.81% compared to the category average of 16.58%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.66, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. BGEIX's 5-year performance has produced a positive alpha of 3.44, which means managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
For 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 0.65% compared to the category average of 1.34%. From a cost perspective, BGEIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $50.