Any investors hoping to find a Mid Cap Growth fund might consider looking past Baron Asset Fund Retail (BARAX Quick QuoteBARAX - Free Report) . BARAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

BARAX is part of the Mid Cap Growth section, a segment that boasts a wide array of possible selections. While Mid Cap Growth mutual funds choose companies with a stock market valuation between $2 billion and $10 billion, stocks in these funds are also expected to show broad considerable growth opportunities for investors compared to their peers. To be considered a growth stock, companies must consistently report impressive sales and/or earnings growth.

History of Fund/Manager

Baron is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of BARAX. The Baron Asset Fund Retail made its debut in June of 1987 and BARAX has managed to accumulate roughly $2.50 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Andrew Peck who has been in charge of the fund since July of 2003.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 20.57%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 21.4%, 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 BARAX over the past three years is 19.96% compared to the category average of 17.56%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 16.38% compared to the category average of 14.42%. 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. BARAX has a 5-year beta of 0.98, which means it is likely to be as volatile as 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. BARAX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 3.29, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, BARAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.31% compared to the category average of 1.17%. BARAX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,000 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Baron Asset Fund Retail ( BARAX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a poor potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mid Cap Growth 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 BARAX too for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.