Is Janus Henderson Global Life Science A (JFNAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Having trouble finding a Sector - Health fund? Janus Henderson Global Life Science A JFNAX is a possible starting point. JFNAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

The world of Sector - Health funds is an area filled with options, such as JFNAX. Healthcare is one of the biggest sectors of the American economy, and Sector - Health mutual funds provide a great opportunity to invest in this industry. Here, funds can include everything from for-profit hospitals to pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers.

History of Fund/Manager

Janus Fund is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of JFNAX. Janus Henderson Global Life Science A debuted in July of 2009. Since then, JFNAX has accumulated assets of about $187.53 million, according to the most recently available information. Andrew Acker is the fund's current manager and has held that role since July of 2009.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 19.47%, 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 6.19%, which places it in the middle 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. Compared to the category average of 10.02%, the standard deviation of JFNAX over the past three years is 16.89%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 15.97% compared to the category average of 16.74%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment.

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. JFNAX has a 5-year beta of 1.03, which means it is likely to be as volatile as the market average. 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 3.5. This means 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, JFNAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.02% compared to the category average of 1.31%. So, JFNAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Janus Henderson Global Life Science A has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Sector - Health 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 JFNAX too 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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