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Is BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A (BDSAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, it would not be wise to start your search with BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A (BDSAX - Free Report) . BDSAX bears 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
BDSAX finds itself in the BlackRock family, based out of New York, NY. BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A made its debut in June of 2013, and since then, BDSAX has accumulated about $306.66 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.4%, 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 4.05%, 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 BDSAX over the past three years is 26.18% compared to the category average of 18.64%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 23.28% compared to the category average of 16.49%. This makes the fund more 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. BDSAX has a 5-year beta of 1.16, which means it is likely to be more 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. BDSAX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -4.76, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Exploring 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 largely on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 99.25% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $3.45 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Finance
Industrial Cyclical
Technology
Other
Turnover is 81%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than the average comparable fund.
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, BDSAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.75% compared to the category average of 1.09%. So, BDSAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A ( BDSAX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A ( BDSAX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on BDSAXin 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. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.
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Is BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A (BDSAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, it would not be wise to start your search with BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A (BDSAX - Free Report) . BDSAX bears 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
BDSAX finds itself in the BlackRock family, based out of New York, NY. BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A made its debut in June of 2013, and since then, BDSAX has accumulated about $306.66 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.4%, 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 4.05%, 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 BDSAX over the past three years is 26.18% compared to the category average of 18.64%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 23.28% compared to the category average of 16.49%. This makes the fund more 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. BDSAX has a 5-year beta of 1.16, which means it is likely to be more 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. BDSAX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -4.76, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Exploring 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 largely on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 99.25% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $3.45 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Finance
- Industrial Cyclical
- Technology
- Other
Turnover is 81%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than the average comparable fund.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, BDSAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.75% compared to the category average of 1.09%. So, BDSAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A ( BDSAX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A ( BDSAX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on BDSAXin 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. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.