Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund could think about starting with American Century Small Cap Value Investor (ASVIX). ASVIX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
American Century is based in Kansas City, MO, and is the manager of ASVIX. Since American Century Small Cap Value Investor made its debut in July of 1998, ASVIX has garnered more than $949.06 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by Jeff John who has been in charge of the fund since May of 2012.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 9.81%, and it sits in the top 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 18.34%, 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. The standard deviation of ASVIX over the past three years is 27.5% compared to the category average of 18.55%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 25.38% compared to the category average of 16.2%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 1.2, the fund 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -0.4, which shows 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 largely on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 90.51% of its holdings in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $3.18 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
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Finance
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Industrial Cyclical
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Technology
Turnover is 43%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.
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, ASVIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.09% compared to the category average of 1.21%. From a cost perspective, ASVIX is actually cheaper than its peers.