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Is Matthews China Small Companies Investor (MCSMX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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On the lookout for a Pacific Rim - Equity fund? Starting with Matthews China Small Companies Investor (MCSMX - Free Report) is one possibility. MCSMX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
MCSMX is one of many Pacific Rim - Equity funds to choose from. Pacific Rim - Equity mutual funds typically invest in companies throughout the dominant export-focused markets of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea. Since Japan mutual funds are already popular in their own right, these Pacific funds will usually invest less than 10% of their assets in Japanese companies.
History of Fund/Manager
Matthews Asia is based in San Francisco, CA, and is the manager of MCSMX. Matthews China Small Companies Investor made its debut in May of 2011, and since then, MCSMX has accumulated about $259.65 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Winnie Chwang is the fund's current manager and has held that role since August of 2020.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 22.78%, and is 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 24.72%, 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. The standard deviation of MCSMX over the past three years is 22.3% compared to the category average of 17.22%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 19.16% compared to the category average of 15.21%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.61, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 14.18, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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, MCSMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.33% compared to the category average of 1.44%. From a cost perspective, MCSMX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $100.
Bottom Line
Overall, Matthews China Small Companies Investor ( MCSMX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Matthews China Small Companies Investor ( MCSMX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Pacific Rim - Equity, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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 Matthews China Small Companies Investor (MCSMX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
On the lookout for a Pacific Rim - Equity fund? Starting with Matthews China Small Companies Investor (MCSMX - Free Report) is one possibility. MCSMX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
MCSMX is one of many Pacific Rim - Equity funds to choose from. Pacific Rim - Equity mutual funds typically invest in companies throughout the dominant export-focused markets of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea. Since Japan mutual funds are already popular in their own right, these Pacific funds will usually invest less than 10% of their assets in Japanese companies.
History of Fund/Manager
Matthews Asia is based in San Francisco, CA, and is the manager of MCSMX. Matthews China Small Companies Investor made its debut in May of 2011, and since then, MCSMX has accumulated about $259.65 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Winnie Chwang is the fund's current manager and has held that role since August of 2020.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 22.78%, and is 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 24.72%, 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. The standard deviation of MCSMX over the past three years is 22.3% compared to the category average of 17.22%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 19.16% compared to the category average of 15.21%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.61, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 14.18, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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, MCSMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.33% compared to the category average of 1.44%. From a cost perspective, MCSMX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $100.
Bottom Line
Overall, Matthews China Small Companies Investor ( MCSMX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Matthews China Small Companies Investor ( MCSMX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Pacific Rim - Equity, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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.