Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A (BDSAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, a place to start could be BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A (BDSAX - Free Report) . BDSAX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

BlackRock is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of BDSAX. BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A debuted in June of 2013. Since then, BDSAX has accumulated assets of about $335.70 million, according to the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 5.92%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 17.76%, 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. BDSAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 23.12% compared to the category average of 16.97%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 24.3% compared to the category average of 17.27%. 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 1.17, which means it is likely to be more 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. With a negative alpha of -5.32, 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.

As of the last filing date, the mutual fund has 98.77% of its assets in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $3.28 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  • Finance
  • Technology
  • Industrial Cyclical
Turnover is 81%, which means, on average, the fund makes more trades in a given year than the category average.

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, BDSAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.75% compared to the category average of 1.06%. So, BDSAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, BlackRock Advantage Small Cap Core A ( BDSAX ) has a high 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 good potential 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 BDSAX too 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.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


BlackRock Advantage Sm Cp Core A (BDSAX) - free report >>

Published in