Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund might consider looking past Schwab Small-Cap Equity (SWSCX Quick QuoteSWSCX - Free Report) . SWSCX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

SWSCX is a part of the Schwab Funds family of funds, a company based out of San Francisco, CA. Schwab Small-Cap Equity debuted in June of 2003. Since then, SWSCX has accumulated assets of about $542.60 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.39%, 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 14.44%, 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. Over the past three years, SWSCX's standard deviation comes in at 25.55%, compared to the category average of 26.61%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 23.65% compared to the category average of 23.62%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.14, 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 negative alpha of -3.4, 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.

Currently, this mutual fund is holding 98.36% stock in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $3.23 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

• Finance
• Industrial Cyclical
• Technology

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, SWSCX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.09% compared to the category average of 1.20%. SWSCX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Schwab Small-Cap Equity ( SWSCX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Equity Report, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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.