If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report fund category, a potential starting could be Azzad Ethical Mid Cap Fund (ADJEX Quick QuoteADJEX - Free Report) . ADJEX holds 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

ADJEX finds itself in the Azzad family, based out of Falls Church, VA. Azzad Ethical Mid Cap Fund debuted in December of 2000. Since then, ADJEX has accumulated assets of about $127.95 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 13.03%, and is in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 12.65%, 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. Compared to the category average of 22.27%, the standard deviation of ADJEX over the past three years is 20.6%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 18.4% compared to the category average of 19.84%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. ADJEX has a 5-year beta of 1.06, which means it is likely to be more volatile than the market average. 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. ADJEX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.32, 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.

Right now, 75.05% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, with an average market capitalization of $31.78 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

1. Technology
2. Health
3. Services

This fund's turnover is about 64.12%, so the fund managers are making more trades in a given year than the category average.

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, ADJEX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.99% compared to the category average of 1.15%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, ADJEX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, Azzad Ethical Mid Cap Fund ( ADJEX ) 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.

This could just be the start of your research on ADJEXin the Mutual Fund Equity Report category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank 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.