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Is Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor (BIAFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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On the lookout for an Allocation Balanced fund? Starting with Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor (BIAFX - Free Report) is one possibility. BIAFX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Zacks' Allocation Balanced funds is an area filled with options, such as BIAFX. These funds like to invest in a variety of asset types, finding a balance between stocks, bonds, cash, and sometimes even precious metals and commodities; they are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. For investors, Allocation Balanced funds can provide an entry point into diversified mutual funds, and present core holding options for a portfolio of funds.
History of Fund/Manager
Brown Adv Fds is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of BIAFX. Since Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor made its debut in December of 2006, BIAFX has garnered more than $485.35 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by Maneesh Bajaj who has been in charge of the fund since October of 2017.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 16.72%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 9.87%, 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 BIAFX over the past three years is 18.28% compared to the category average of 16.49%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 19.72% compared to the category average of 17.3%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 1.05, the fund is likely to be more volatile than 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. With a positive alpha of 0.48, managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Examining 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 76.69% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $360.08 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Finance
Turnover is 12%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.
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, BIAFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.69% compared to the category average of 0.96%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, BIAFX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $100, and each subsequent investment should be at least $100.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. 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 good potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on BIAFXin the Allocation Balanced category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well 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.
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Is Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor (BIAFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
On the lookout for an Allocation Balanced fund? Starting with Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor (BIAFX - Free Report) is one possibility. BIAFX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Zacks' Allocation Balanced funds is an area filled with options, such as BIAFX. These funds like to invest in a variety of asset types, finding a balance between stocks, bonds, cash, and sometimes even precious metals and commodities; they are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. For investors, Allocation Balanced funds can provide an entry point into diversified mutual funds, and present core holding options for a portfolio of funds.
History of Fund/Manager
Brown Adv Fds is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of BIAFX. Since Brown Advisory Flexible Equity Investor made its debut in December of 2006, BIAFX has garnered more than $485.35 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by Maneesh Bajaj who has been in charge of the fund since October of 2017.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 16.72%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 9.87%, 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 BIAFX over the past three years is 18.28% compared to the category average of 16.49%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 19.72% compared to the category average of 17.3%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 1.05, the fund is likely to be more volatile than 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. With a positive alpha of 0.48, managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Examining 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 76.69% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $360.08 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Finance
Turnover is 12%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.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, BIAFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.69% compared to the category average of 0.96%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, BIAFX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $100, and each subsequent investment should be at least $100.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. 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 good potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on BIAFXin the Allocation Balanced category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well 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.