The MF statistics that I find valuable to look at while investing...

Since multiple folks have asked, a thread on statistics I find useful while investing. Note, it goes without saying statistics are one part of the analysis. Any investment starts by understanding the fund, AMC and fund manager.

That said, once I understand the fund’s process, fund manager’s style and the basic terms, these are the few statistics I find value in. All of this is available in the public domain for funds - via factsheets or presentations. For equity funds below.

1. Rolling 3 and 5 year performance versus the benchmark. I’m looking to understand if the fund can beat the benchmark consistently over a medium term. Rolling, because it summarises the experience of a cross section of investors.

2. Relative performance versus peers on a 3 and 5 year basis. Of course peer performance matters, but I’m looking for a fund that is broadly in the first two quartiles on a rolling basis, not the number 1 fund. And 3/5 year is a good period.

3. Extreme period performance. I like to see how funds do in extreme periods - crashes or rallies. This gives some information and raises potential red flags. Another way to see it is upcycle and downside performance.

4. Volatility and beta, over a medium term. Should be similar to benchmark for equity funds, but for hybrid funds needs to be much lower than benchmark. This is a critical metric for hybrid funds.

5. Portfolios psychographics like PE ratio etc. Tells you if a fund is sticking to style - a value fund should have lower PE than benchmark. In hybrid funds I like to see debt portfolios carefully to make sure I am comfortable.

6. Liquidity and concentration. I like to see how long it would take for the fund to reasonably liquidate positions. This data is usually published by AMCs in presentations and is quite useful. Matters for funds with larger size.

I also like to see concentration of equity holdings. Is the performance from a concentrated set of positions in a few companies, or more broad based.

7. Cash exposures, market cap and sectoral splits, all in the factsheet. I like to check if a fund is true to label. Does my mid cap fund hide in large caps, or are there consistent cash calls?

8. SIP performance over a medium term again given in factsheets. Since I am an SIP investor this gives me a good view of my likely investment experience.

Disclaimer: This is not a complete list I am sure, but these are the basic metrics I like to use. The metrics would be different for debt of course. I believe there is a lot of information out there, we all need to use it and ask more questions.