Looking for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You may want to consider American Funds Washington Mutual Investors A (AWSHX Quick QuoteAWSHX - Free Report) as a possible option. AWSHX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

AWSHX finds itself in the American Funds family, based out of Los Angeles, CA. The American Funds Washington Mutual Investors A made its debut in July of 1952 and AWSHX has managed to accumulate roughly $76.40 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 13.95%, and it sits in the bottom 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 16.36%, which places it in the bottom 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. AWSHX's standard deviation over the past three years is 16.84% compared to the category average of 14.51%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 14.61% compared to the category average of 12.73%. 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 0.9, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. 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. With a negative alpha of -1.09, 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.

Currently, this mutual fund is holding 80.5% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $389.16 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

1. Finance
2. Technology
3. Industrial Cyclical

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, AWSHX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.57% compared to the category average of 0.93%. So, AWSHX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $250; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, American Funds Washington Mutual Investors A ( AWSHX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about AWSHX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.