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Is Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor (BIAFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Having trouble finding a Allocation Balanced fund? Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor (BIAFX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. BIAFX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
BIAFX is one of many Zacks' Allocation Balanced mutual funds to pick from. Allocation Balanced funds seek to invest in a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. Investors utilize Allocation Balanced funds as a way to get a good start with diversified mutual funds, as well as for core holdings in a portfolio of funds.
History of Fund/Manager
Brown Adv Fds is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of BIAFX. Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor made its debut in December of 2006, and since then, BIAFX has accumulated about $583.46 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Maneesh Bajaj who has been in charge of the fund since October of 2017.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. BIAFX has a 5-year annualized total return of 15.15%, and it sits 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 21.23%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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 BIAFX over the past three years is 13.85% compared to the category average of 12.5%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 16.43% compared to the category average of 14.1%. 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. BIAFX has a 5-year beta of 1.01, which means it is likely to be as volatile as 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. BIAFX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.15, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Investigating 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 84.14% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $616.23 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Finance
Turnover is about 34%, so those in charge of the fund make fewer trades than its comparable peers.
Expenses
Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, BIAFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.67% compared to the category average of 0.87%. BIAFX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $100 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $100.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor ( BIAFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about BIAFX? 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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Is Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor (BIAFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Having trouble finding a Allocation Balanced fund? Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor (BIAFX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. BIAFX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
BIAFX is one of many Zacks' Allocation Balanced mutual funds to pick from. Allocation Balanced funds seek to invest in a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. Investors utilize Allocation Balanced funds as a way to get a good start with diversified mutual funds, as well as for core holdings in a portfolio of funds.
History of Fund/Manager
Brown Adv Fds is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of BIAFX. Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor made its debut in December of 2006, and since then, BIAFX has accumulated about $583.46 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Maneesh Bajaj who has been in charge of the fund since October of 2017.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. BIAFX has a 5-year annualized total return of 15.15%, and it sits 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 21.23%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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 BIAFX over the past three years is 13.85% compared to the category average of 12.5%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 16.43% compared to the category average of 14.1%. 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. BIAFX has a 5-year beta of 1.01, which means it is likely to be as volatile as 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. BIAFX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.15, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Investigating 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 84.14% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $616.23 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Turnover is about 34%, so those in charge of the fund make fewer trades than its comparable peers.
Expenses
Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, BIAFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.67% compared to the category average of 0.87%. BIAFX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $100 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $100.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor ( BIAFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about BIAFX? 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.