Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is Aegis Value Fund (AVALX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Equity Report fund category, Aegis Value Fund (AVALX - Free Report) could be a potential option. AVALX 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

Aegis is based in McLean, VA, and is the manager of AVALX. The Aegis Value Fund made its debut in June of 2000 and AVALX has managed to accumulate roughly $340.89 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Scott L. Barbee is the fund's current manager and has held that role since June of 2000.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. AVALX has a 5-year annualized total return of 14.61% and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 36.29%, which places it in the top 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, AVALX's standard deviation comes in at 25.92%, compared to the category average of 22.66%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 30.5% compared to the category average of 25.05%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.26, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. 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. AVALX's 5-year performance has produced a positive alpha of 2.9, which means 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, AVALX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.45% compared to the category average of 1.21%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, AVALX is actually more expensive than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $10,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $250.

Bottom Line

Overall, Aegis Value Fund ( AVALX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Your research on the Mutual Fund Equity Report segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer 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.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


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


AEGIS VALUE FUND (AVALX) - free report >>

Published in