Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Consistently ranks 81% - 100% (worst) in its Category 1-10 years Consistently underperforms S&P in arguably the easiest Category for success S&P Index fund FXAIX outperforms it by at least their ER difference in ALL periods
UP only 4.7% YTD despite having over 50% Technology
Tons of other great active LG funds available
Same PMs who compiled the fund's past performance are still on the job
All four Fido funds suggested for comparison, FCNTX, FDSVX, FDCAX, and FDSSX ALL outperform it in ALL 1-10-Life periods except one fund in one period by 0.01%.
Because it's a HUGE investment company that has been around a LONG time and the funds all have at least a slightly different strategy?
FWIW, from the Fido site, they show 9 LCG OEFs and 4 they refer to as Go anywhere:
Large Growth Fidelity® Blue Chip Growth Fund (FBGRX) Fidelity® Export & Multinational Fund (FEXPX) Fidelity® Focused Stock Fund (FTQGX) Fidelity® Fund (FFIDX) Fidelity® Growth Discovery Fund (FDSVX) Fidelity® Growth Company Fund (FDGRX) Fidelity® OTC Portfolio (FOCPX) Fidelity® Stock Selector All Cap Fund (FDSSX) Fidelity® Trend Fund (FTRNX)
Go-Anywhere Fidelity® Capital Appreciation Fund (FDCAX) Fidelity® Contrafund® (FCNTX) Fidelity® Magellan® Fund (FMAGX) Fidelity® New Millennium Fund (FMILX)
M* portfolio measurements place them in LCG. But they have differences.
FCNTX, FDCAX are go-anywhere funds, so they can make big bets on SC/MC too.
FDSSX also focuses on sectors and factors.
FDSVX has strong growth with concentration, so it's nondiversified.
etc
Fido has traditionally been a growth shop, but now it has a decent bond fund lineup too; cryptos too (ETF FBTC). Even before Peter Lynch (PL), it had fantastic growth funds (FTRNX, FMAGX) run by none other than Ned Johnson who left those "jobs" to run Fidelity itself. Story is that PL was called into Ned's office soon after he started at FMAGX & PL was a bit concerned. But Ned asked PL how he was doing and said, your style is very different than mine, but good luck with the fund. That is Fido culture - "31-flavors" (not yet) of anything; no group think.
FMILX - one manager, 1.3 yrs tenure, $100-500K invested From M*: "The strategy underwent an entire portfolio management team change about a year ago".
Not quite your classic LCV fund!
The portfolio was LCV through 2021 and LC Blend in 2022. It's just the recent strategy change that overhauled the portfolio. M* generally uses a three year lookback in classifying funds, to ensure that a fund's classification isn't whipsawed because of momentary changes in portfolio style. Arguably M* should make an exception when there's a complete change of strategy and management.
Fund categories are much more stable, designed to avoid such noise by putting each fund into a peer group that best represents what its portfolio has looked like over the long term and is likely to look like in the future. ... There are no hard-and-fast rules, but generally if a fund's style box has consistently differed from its category for three years or more, we'll consider moving it to a new category that's more in sync with its portfolio.
Who remembers what this fund was originally supposed to be? It was started in 1992 as a fund focused on new trends and a promise to close before it became another hulking Fidelity fund.
The fund's management style focuses on identifying future beneficiaries of social and economic change. FMR examines social attitudes, legislative actions, economic plans, product innovation, demographics, and other factors to learn what underlying trends are shaping the marketplace. Based on its interpretation of these trends, FMR tries to identify the industries and companies that will benefit, and then analyzes the fundamental values of each potential investment. ... The fund's strategy can lead to investments in small and medium sized companies, which carry more risk than larger ones. Generally, these companies, especially small sized ones, rely on limited product lines and markets, financial resources, or other factors. This may make them more susceptible to setbacks or downturns.
That hardly describes a fund holding the largest companies in the country.
And it did close as promised, while it was still small. I don't know of any other fund that Fidelity closed like that. "Effective the close of business on May 15, 1996, the fund was closed to new accounts."
Comments
ER over 1%
Consistently ranks 81% - 100% (worst) in its Category 1-10 years
Consistently underperforms S&P in arguably the easiest Category for success
S&P Index fund FXAIX outperforms it by at least their ER difference in ALL periods
UP only 4.7% YTD despite having over 50% Technology
Tons of other great active LG funds available
Same PMs who compiled the fund's past performance are still on the job
All four Fido funds suggested for comparison, FCNTX, FDSVX, FDCAX, and FDSSX ALL outperform it in ALL 1-10-Life periods except one fund in one period by 0.01%.
Um, lemme think...
Yeah, beyond OK to SELL!
FWIW, from the Fido site, they show 9 LCG OEFs and 4 they refer to as Go anywhere:
Large Growth
Fidelity® Blue Chip Growth Fund (FBGRX)
Fidelity® Export & Multinational Fund (FEXPX)
Fidelity® Focused Stock Fund (FTQGX)
Fidelity® Fund (FFIDX)
Fidelity® Growth Discovery Fund (FDSVX)
Fidelity® Growth Company Fund (FDGRX)
Fidelity® OTC Portfolio (FOCPX)
Fidelity® Stock Selector All Cap Fund (FDSSX)
Fidelity® Trend Fund (FTRNX)
Go-Anywhere
Fidelity® Capital Appreciation Fund (FDCAX)
Fidelity® Contrafund® (FCNTX)
Fidelity® Magellan® Fund (FMAGX)
Fidelity® New Millennium Fund (FMILX)
FCNTX, FDCAX are go-anywhere funds, so they can make big bets on SC/MC too.
FDSSX also focuses on sectors and factors.
FDSVX has strong growth with concentration, so it's nondiversified.
etc
Fido has traditionally been a growth shop, but now it has a decent bond fund lineup too; cryptos too (ETF FBTC). Even before Peter Lynch (PL), it had fantastic growth funds (FTRNX, FMAGX) run by none other than Ned Johnson who left those "jobs" to run Fidelity itself. Story is that PL was called into Ned's office soon after he started at FMAGX & PL was a bit concerned. But Ned asked PL how he was doing and said, your style is very different than mine, but good luck with the fund. That is Fido culture - "31-flavors" (not yet) of anything; no group think.
On M* classifications, FMILX is surely a funny one. I recently carved into it while researching a possible replacement for an existing LCV holding.
Here are FMILX's Top Holdings as of 01/31/24.
Not quite your classic LCV fund!
Top 10 Holdings
29.95% of Total Portfolio
152 holdings as of 01/31/2024
MSFT 7.49%
AAPL 4.24%
NVDA 3.94%
AMZN 3.21%
META 2.60%
GOOGL 1.93%
LLY 1.88%
V 1.82%
UNH 1.42%
SPACE EXPLORATION TECH CORP PP 1.42%
FDSVX - two managers, 17 & 7 years tenure, both > $1 million invested
From M*: "The strategy underwent an entire portfolio management team change about a year ago".
Not quite your classic LCV fund!
The portfolio was LCV through 2021 and LC Blend in 2022. It's just the recent strategy change that overhauled the portfolio. M* generally uses a three year lookback in classifying funds, to ensure that a fund's classification isn't whipsawed because of momentary changes in portfolio style. Arguably M* should make an exception when there's a complete change of strategy and management. https://www.morningstar.com/articles/306244/why-is-my-funds-style-box-different-from-its-category
Who remembers what this fund was originally supposed to be? It was started in 1992 as a fund focused on new trends and a promise to close before it became another hulking Fidelity fund.
From the 1996 prospectus: That hardly describes a fund holding the largest companies in the country.
And it did close as promised, while it was still small. I don't know of any other fund that Fidelity closed like that. "Effective the close of business on May 15, 1996, the fund was closed to new accounts."