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Is Fidelity Emerging Markets Discovery Fund (FEDDX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund could think about starting with Fidelity Emerging Markets Discovery Fund (FEDDX - Free Report) . FEDDX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is responsible for FEDDX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Emerging Markets Discovery Fund made its debut in November of 2011, FEDDX has garnered more than $247.98 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by Greg Lee who has been in charge of the fund since November of 2011.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.66%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 8.78%, 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 FEDDX over the past three years is 20.37% compared to the category average of 15.35%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 17.84% compared to the category average of 13.63%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.85, 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 negative alpha over the past 5 years of -5.59, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, FEDDX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.18% compared to the category average of 1.15%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FEDDX is actually more expensive than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Emerging Markets Discovery Fund ( FEDDX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Equity Report 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 FEDDX to its peers as well for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.


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