Looking for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You may want to consider Delaware Small Cap Value I (DEVIX Quick QuoteDEVIX - Free Report) as a possible option. DEVIX possesses 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

DEVIX is a part of the Delaware Investments family of funds, a company based out of Philadelphia, PA. Since Delaware Small Cap Value I made its debut in June of 1987, DEVIX has garnered more than $3.67 billion in assets. 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 5.18%, 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 7.96%, 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. DEVIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 27.66% compared to the category average of 18.84%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 24.64% compared to the category average of 16.59%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.18, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -5.18. This means that 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.

This fund is currently holding about 98.43% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $5.62 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

1. Finance
2. Industrial Cyclical
3. Technology

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, DEVIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.87% compared to the category average of 1.22%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, DEVIX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $0; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Delaware Small Cap Value I ( DEVIX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse 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 DEVIXin 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.