If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, consider Fidelity Advisor Financial Services A (FAFDX Quick QuoteFAFDX - Free Report) as a possibility. FAFDX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

FAFDX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Advisor Financial Services A debuted in September of 1996. Since then, FAFDX has accumulated assets of about $169.84 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Matt Reed, has been in charge of the fund since June of 2019.

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 6.04%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 6.49%, 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. The standard deviation of FAFDX over the past three years is 26.83% compared to the category average of 18.57%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 23.2% compared to the category average of 16.29%. 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 1.08, which means it is hypothetically more volatile than 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. FAFDX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.54, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Investigating the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.

This fund is currently holding about 91.36% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $60.25 billion. With turnover at about 36%, this fund makes fewer trades than the average comparable fund.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, FAFDX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.03% compared to the category average of 1.46%. So, FAFDX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Advisor Financial Services A ( FAFDX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Advisor Financial Services A ( FAFDX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

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