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Are you on the hunt for an Index fund? You should think about starting with Schwab 1000 (SNXFX). SNXFX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.
History of Fund/Manager
SNXFX is a part of the Schwab Funds family of funds, a company based out of San Francisco, CA. The Schwab 1000 made its debut in April of 1991 and SNXFX has managed to accumulate roughly $7.91 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 11.2%, and it sits in the top 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 14.73%, which places it in the top 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. Over the past three years, SNXFX's standard deviation comes in at 11.03%, compared to the category average of 7.63%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 11.39% compared to the category average of 8.93%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. SNXFX lost 50.78% in the most recent bear market and underperformed its peer group by 5.05%. This could mean that the fund is a worse choice than comparable funds during a bear market.
Nevertheless, investors should also note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.01, which means it is hypothetically as volatile as the market at large. 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -0.47. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Examining the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is principally on equities that are traded in the United States.