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Is Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology I (FBTIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Have you been searching for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You might want to begin with Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology I (FBTIX - Free Report) . FBTIX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

FBTIX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology I debuted in December of 2000. Since then, FBTIX has accumulated assets of about $694.61 million, according to the most recently available information. Eirene Kontopoulos is the fund's current manager and has held that role since July of 2018.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 5.64%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 1.07%, 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. Over the past three years, FBTIX's standard deviation comes in at 18.45%, compared to the category average of 17.56%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 21.19% compared to the category average of 15.83%. 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. FBTIX has a 5-year beta of 0.69, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. FBTIX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -1.17, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, FBTIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.74% compared to the category average of 1.29%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FBTIX 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, Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology I ( FBTIX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology I ( FBTIX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about FBTIX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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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