There are plenty of choices in the Non US - Equity category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that may not be worth investigating is American Century International Opportunity Institutional (ACIOX Quick QuoteACIOX - Free Report) . ACIOX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

Zacks categorizes ACIOX as Non US - Equity, a segment stacked high with options. Non US - Equity mutual funds like to invest in companies outside of the United States, an important characteristic since global mutual funds are known to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. These kinds of funds can often extend across all cap levels, and will typically allocate their investments between emerging and developed markets.

History of Fund/Manager

ACIOX finds itself in the American Century family, based out of Kansas City, MO. Since American Century International Opportunity Institutional made its debut in January of 2003, ACIOX has garnered more than $114 million in assets. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 13.24%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 8.41%, 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, ACIOX's standard deviation comes in at 21.74%, compared to the category average of 16.03%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 18.12% compared to the category average of 13.52%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.03, the fund is likely to be as volatile as the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -2.54, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, ACIOX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.20% compared to the category average of 1.19%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, ACIOX is actually more expensive than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $5 million, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, American Century International Opportunity Institutional ( ACIOX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a poor potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about ACIOX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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.