Is Medalist MBS Total Return Investor (SEMPX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

On the lookout for a Index fund? Starting with Medalist MBS Total Return Investor (SEMPX) is one possibility. SEMPX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Semper is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of SEMPX. Since Medalist MBS Total Return Investor made its debut in July of 2013, SEMPX has garnered more than $23.35 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. SEMPX has a 5-year annualized total return of 5.63%, and it sits in the middle 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 9.63%, which places it in the middle 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 12.89%, the standard deviation of SEMPX over the past three years is 3.84%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 4.56% compared to the category average of 13.32%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.31, which means it is hypothetically less 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. SEMPX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 3.67, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

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, SEMPX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.13% compared to the category average of 0.92%. From a cost perspective, SEMPX is actually more expensive than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1,000.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Overall, Medalist MBS Total Return Investor ( SEMPX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on SEMPX in the Index category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well 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).

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