Any investors hoping to find a Global – Equity fund might consider looking past Kinetics Paradigm Fund No Load (WWNPX). WWNPX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
We note that WWNPX is a Global – Equity option, an investment area loaded with different options. While Global – Equity mutual funds invest their assets in large markets-think the U.S., Europe, and Japan-they aren’t limited by geography. Their investment technique is one that leverages the global economy in order to offer stable returns.
WWNPX is a part of the Kinetics family of funds, a company based out of Sleepy Hollow, NY. The Kinetics Paradigm Fund No Load made its debut in February of 2003 and WWNPX has managed to accumulate roughly $549.18 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund’s current manager.
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 28.84%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 21.43%, 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. The standard deviation of WWNPX over the past three years is 37.34% compared to the category average of 13.64%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 35.5% compared to the category average of 15.12%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.04, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more volatile than 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. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 15.46, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, WWNPX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.64% compared to the category average of 0.97%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, WWNPX is actually more expensive than its peers.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Overall, Kinetics Paradigm Fund No Load ( WWNPX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Kinetics Paradigm Fund No Load ( WWNPX ) looks like a poor potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Global – Equity 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 WWNPX too for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).