Is ProFunds UltraNASDAQ-100 Fund Investor (UOPIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

If you have been looking for Index funds, a place to start could be ProFunds UltraNASDAQ-100 Fund Investor (UOPIX). UOPIX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

UOPIX is a part of the ProFunds family of funds, a company based out of Columbus, OH. ProFunds UltraNASDAQ-100 Fund Investor made its debut in December of 1997, and since then, UOPIX has accumulated about $849.57 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund’s current manager, Michael Neches, has been in charge of the fund since October of 2013.

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 24.08%, and is in the top 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 18.24%, which places it in the top 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. Over the past three years, UOPIX’s standard deviation comes in at 40.54%, compared to the category average of 25.75%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund’s standard deviation is 41.25% compared to the category average of 27.16%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 2.33, which means it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio’s performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. UOPIX’s 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -3.14, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, UOPIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.42% compared to the category average of 1.41%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, UOPIX is actually more expensive than its peers.