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Is Fidelity Advisor Small Cap Growth A (FCAGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Looking for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You may want to consider Fidelity Advisor Small Cap Growth A (FCAGX - Free Report) as a possible option. FCAGX has 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

FCAGX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. The Fidelity Advisor Small Cap Growth A made its debut in November of 2004 and FCAGX has managed to accumulate roughly $280.29 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Patrick Venanzi is the fund's current manager and has held that role since November of 2011.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. FCAGX has a 5-year annualized total return of 9.05% 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 6.5%, 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. FCAGX's standard deviation over the past three years is 24.58% compared to the category average of 18.29%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 22.46% compared to the category average of 16.13%. 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. FCAGX has a 5-year beta of 1.07, which means it is likely to be more volatile than the market average. 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -1.7. 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 primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.

This fund is currently holding about 97.12% stock in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $5.42 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Technology
  2. Health
  3. Industrial Cyclical
  4. Retail Trade
Turnover is about 79%, so those in charge of the fund make more traders than comparable funds in a given year.

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, FCAGX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.29% compared to the category average of 1.19%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FCAGX is actually more expensive than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Advisor Small Cap Growth A ( FCAGX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Fidelity Advisor Small Cap Growth A ( FCAGX ) looks like a somewhat average 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 FCAGX 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.


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