If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, consider Oppenheimer SteelPath MLP Income C (MLPRX) as a possibility. MLPRX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
MLPRX finds itself in the Invesco family, based out of Kansas City, MO. The Oppenheimer SteelPath MLP Income C made its debut in May of 2011 and MLPRX has managed to accumulate roughly $448.37 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Stuart Cartner, has been in charge of the fund since May of 2011.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. MLPRX has a 5-year annualized total return of 0.7% and it sits in the middle 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 2.33%, 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. Compared to the category average of 23.16%, the standard deviation of MLPRX over the past three years is 53.74%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 43.04% compared to the category average of 17.95%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.69, so it is likely going to be more 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -9.11, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, MLPRX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 2.14% compared to the category average of 1.43%. So, MLPRX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.