On the lookout for a Sector - Health fund? Starting with Franklin Biotechnology Discovery A (FBDIX Quick QuoteFBDIX - Free Report) is one possibility. FBDIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We note that FBDIX is a Sector - Health fund, and this area is also loaded with various options. Sector - Health mutual funds give investors an opportunity to focus on one of the largest sectors of the American economy, healthcare. Funds in this category can include everything from for-profit hospitals to pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers.

History of Fund/Manager

Franklin is based in San Mateo, CA, and is the manager of FBDIX. The Franklin Biotechnology Discovery A made its debut in September of 1997 and FBDIX has managed to accumulate roughly $863.38 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Evan McCulloch is the fund's current manager and has held that role since September of 1997.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. FBDIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 6.59%, 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 24.57%, which places it in the top 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 FBDIX over the past three years is 20.22% compared to the category average of 11.87%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 19.87% compared to the category average of 13.55%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.6, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. FBDIX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -1.69, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, FBDIX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.05% compared to the category average of 0.98%. So, FBDIX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Overall, even with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Franklin Biotechnology Discovery A ( FBDIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Sector - Health, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.