On the lookout for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? Starting with Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor (BIAFX Quick QuoteBIAFX - Free Report) is one possibility. BIAFX 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

BIAFX is a part of the Brown Adv Fds family of funds, a company based out of Baltimore, MD. Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor made its debut in December of 2006, and since then, BIAFX has accumulated about $399.94 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Maneesh Bajaj, has been in charge of the fund since October of 2017.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 11.5%, and it sits 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 10.04%, 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, BIAFX's standard deviation comes in at 20.18%, compared to the category average of 16.91%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 18.28% compared to the category average of 15.18%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.06, the fund 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. BIAFX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.22, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Examining 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.

The mutual fund currently has 88.03% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $487.30 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

1. Technology
2. Finance

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, BIAFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.68% compared to the category average of 0.86%. From a cost perspective, BIAFX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $100 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor ( BIAFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on BIAFXin 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.