Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund could think about starting with Janus Henderson Global Life Science D (JNGLX Quick QuoteJNGLX - Free Report) . JNGLX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Janus Fund is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of JNGLX. The Janus Henderson Global Life Science D made its debut in December of 1998 and JNGLX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.59 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. Andrew Acker is the fund's current manager and has held that role since May of 2007.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. JNGLX has a 5-year annualized total return of 9.56% and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 10.67%, 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. JNGLX's standard deviation over the past three years is 17.19% compared to the category average of 16.25%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 16.52% compared to the category average of 14.62%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.77, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 0.42, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, JNGLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.80% compared to the category average of 1.29%. So, JNGLX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, Janus Henderson Global Life Science D ( JNGLX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Equity Report area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into JNGLX too 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.