Besides Net Asset Value the following parameters should be considered while comparing the funds:

• AVERAGE RETURNSAn investor should consider  the returns given by the fund over a period of time. Need to  look into  whether all dividends and bonuses have been accounted for. The higher and more consistent the returns the better is the fund.
• VOLATILITYIn addition to the returns one should also highlight the volatility of the returns given by the fund. Volatility is basically the fluctuation of the returns about the mean return over a period of time. A fund with  consistent returns is superior than a fund whose returns fluctuate a lot.
• CORPUS SIZEA Large corpus is normally considered good because large funds have lower costs but at the same a large corpus may become unwieldy and thus difficult to manage.
• PERFORMANCE VIS A VIS BENCHMARKS / OTHER SCHEMESReturns are not the only thing to be seen by the investor but also compare it with benchmarks like the BSE Sensex, Nifty 50, T-bill index etc depending on the asset class he has invested in. For a clearer  picture it is advisable  that the returns  be compared with the returns given by the other funds in the same category.

It is sensible to consider all the above-mentioned factors while comparing funds and not rely on any one of them in remoteness.