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Is TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement (TEMSX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you've been stuck searching for Non US - Equity funds, consider TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement (TEMSX - Free Report) as a possibility. TEMSX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

TEMSX is classified in the Non US - Equity area by Zacks, and this segment is full of potential. Non US - Equity funds focus their investments on companies outside of the United States, which is an important distinction since global mutual funds tend to keep a sizable portion of their portfolio based in the United States. Most of these funds will allocate across emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too.

History of Fund/Manager

TIAA-CREF is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of TEMSX. The TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement made its debut in August of 2010 and TEMSX has managed to accumulate roughly $118.19 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Barton Grenning is the fund's current manager and has held that role since March of 2015.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. TEMSX has a 5-year annualized total return of 13.97% and it sits 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 7.41%, which places it in the middle 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, TEMSX's standard deviation comes in at 22.68%, compared to the category average of 16.03%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 19.01% compared to the category average of 13.37%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.93, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. TEMSX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -0.24, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, TEMSX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.99% compared to the category average of 1.18%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, TEMSX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $0; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement ( TEMSX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement ( TEMSX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Don't stop here for your research on Non US - Equity funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare TEMSX to its peers as well for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.


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