Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund could think about starting with Schwab MarketTrack Allocation Equity Portfolio (SWEGX). SWEGX holds 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

Schwab Funds is responsible for SWEGX, and the company is based out of San Francisco, CA. The Schwab MarketTrack Allocation Equity Portfolio made its debut in May of 1998 and SWEGX has managed to accumulate roughly $698.90 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Zifan Tang is the fund's current manager and has held that role since February of 2012.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 5.89%, and is 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 7.97%, 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, SWEGX's standard deviation comes in at 21.63%, compared to the category average of 20.77%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 18.97% compared to the category average of 18.23%. 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 0.99, so it is likely going to be as volatile as 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. SWEGX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -3.14, demonstrating 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, SWEGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.39% compared to the category average of 0.86%. SWEGX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $0; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Schwab MarketTrack Allocation Equity Portfolio ( SWEGX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Schwab MarketTrack Allocation Equity Portfolio ( SWEGX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Equity Report funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare SWEGX to its peers as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.

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