The Contrarian Tech Fund That Proves Boring Is Best
While the Nasdaq Composite index recently rebounded to levels last seen in 2000, investors shouldn't celebrate: as a group, technology stocks provided essentially zero return for 15 years.
But that's only true of investments that tracked the tech-laden Nasdaq. Results were far better in another very unique tech fund: the Fidelity Select IT Services Portfolio Fund (NYSE: FBSOX).
Those who put money in the mutual fund at the peak of the tech boom on March 10, 2000, have since seen their investments advance nearly 11% annually, compared to less than 1% a year for the Nasdaq. That makes FBSOX the top tech fund since the bubble burst, according to Reuters.
As the following chart shows, FBSOX chugged along as the Nasdaq soared into the stratosphere and then plunged back to earth. The fund was eventually caught in the downdraft, but managed to elude the worst of the meltdown.
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This fund is the classic tortoise versus the hare. It avoids buzzworthy tech stocks, many of which are prone to boom-and-bust cycles and instead focuses on another type of tech stock: the behind-the-scenes, unsung heroes of the IT revolution.
For example, this fund's third-largest holding, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (Nasdaq: CTSH), is a global leader in systems integration, IT consulting, cloud services and business process outsourcing. The company, which boosted sales at a 26% pace during the past five years to more than $10 billion annually, is poised for especially fast European expansion, according to Morningstar analysts.
Endurance International Group Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: EIGI), FBSOX's number-four position, offers domains, web hosting, email, security, website analytics and search engine optimization, among other services. Annual sales have more than doubled to $630 million since 2012 and shares of the company are up roughly 50% since the initial public offering in late 2013.
The top two holdings, MasterCard, Inc. (NYSE: MA) and Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V), are less conventional, but still valid tech plays. Both use current technologies, such as mobile payment apps, to dominate in online payments. Because data breaches have become so common, they're both involved in developing fraud prevention technologies like the secure chips being embedded in credit and debit cards to authenticate transactions.
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Both stocks have more than tripled during the past five years.
Other high performers from the top-10 holdings list: integrated payments processor Vantiv, Inc. (NYSE: VNTV), technology services and outsourcing provider Accenture Plc (NYSE: ACN) and banking/payment solutions leader Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (NYSE: FIS). During the past five years, these stocks each gained 118%, 153%, and 210%, respectively.
With 60% of fund assets in the top 10 holdings and a total portfolio of just 73 stocks, FBSOX is highly concentrated compared with the Nasdaq, which consists of about 3,100 stocks. While this can lead to greater short-term price variation from a statistical standpoint, investors won't likely notice any discernible difference in volatility between the fund and the index.
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Regarding overall asset allocation, FBSOX is 52% large-cap stock, 13% mid-cap stock and 35% small-cap stock. Foreign equities make up just 2% of assets; these holdings are split evenly between Europe and Asia. At 83 basis points, the fund's expense ratio is below the peer group average, according to Morningstar.
Risks To Consider: Like any fund, FBSOX makes some bad picks. International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), number seven on the top holdings list, rose only rose 28% in the past five years. The worst performer, MoneyGram International, Inc. (Nasdaq: MGI), plunged more than 60% during that time. Also, a downturn in tech stocks would impact this fund's performance.
Action To Take --> Investing in Fidelity Select IT Services Portfolio is an excellent way to gain profitable exposure to technology, while flying under the radar. The fund's staid contrarian approach served it well during the dot-com era and it's just as timely today. Concerns are mounting once again about excessively high valuations in the technology sector -- especially biotech, which could be in bubble territory. Unlike the Nasdaq, FBSOX has no direct exposure to biotech stocks and should fare far better if those stocks implode.
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