If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Equity Report fund category, Fidelity Advisor Mid Cap Value I (FMPOX Quick QuoteFMPOX - Free Report) could be a potential option. FMPOX has 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

Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FMPOX. The Fidelity Advisor Mid Cap Value I made its debut in February of 2007 and FMPOX has managed to accumulate roughly $129.08 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. FMPOX has a 5-year annualized total return of 9.68% 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 18.69%, 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. Over the past three years, FMPOX's standard deviation comes in at 23.45%, compared to the category average of 16.36%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 19.77% compared to the category average of 13.71%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.17, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. FMPOX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -9.47, 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 largely on equities that are traded in the United States.

Right now, 95.56% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, with an average market capitalization of $19.30 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

1. Finance
2. Retail Trade
3. Industrial Cyclical

This fund's turnover is about 67%, so the fund managers are making more trades in a given year than the average of comparable funds.

Expenses

For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, FMPOX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.51% compared to the category average of 1.11%. So, FMPOX 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 Mid Cap Value I ( FMPOX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.

Your research on the Mutual Fund Equity Report segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well 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.