Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund could think about starting with Fidelity Advisor Equity Growth A (EPGAX Quick QuoteEPGAX - Free Report) . EPGAX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of EPGAX. The Fidelity Advisor Equity Growth A made its debut in November of 1983 and EPGAX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.31 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Jason Weiner, has been in charge of the fund since November of 2006.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. EPGAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 14.94% 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 13.95%, 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. EPGAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 20.06% compared to the category average of 16.12%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 18.33% compared to the category average of 14.44%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.02, the fund 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. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 3.27, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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 primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.

Currently, this mutual fund is holding 83.85% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $648.97 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

1. Technology
2. Finance

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, EPGAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.97% compared to the category average of 1%. So, EPGAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Advisor Equity Growth A ( EPGAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Equity Report area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into EPGAX too 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.