If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, it would not be wise to start your search with Fidelity Real Estate Income (FRIFX Quick QuoteFRIFX - Free Report) . FRIFX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), 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 FRIFX. The Fidelity Real Estate Income made its debut in February of 2003 and FRIFX has managed to accumulate roughly $2.67 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Mark Snyderman, has been in charge of the fund since February of 2003.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 6.82%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.3%, 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. The standard deviation of FRIFX over the past three years is 17.01% compared to the category average of 18.85%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 13.61% compared to the category average of 16.82%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.62, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. FRIFX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -2.72, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

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, FRIFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.72% compared to the category average of 1.20%. So, FRIFX 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 Real Estate Income ( FRIFX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Real Estate Income ( FRIFX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on FRIFXin 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. 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.