Back to top

Image: Bigstock

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

Read MoreHide Full Article

Mutual Fund Equity Report fund seekers should not consider taking a look at TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement (TEMSX - Free Report) at this time. TEMSX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

TEMSX is a part of the TIAA-CREF family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. The TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement made its debut in August of 2010 and TEMSX has managed to accumulate roughly $82.64 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Barton Grenning, has been in charge of the fund since March of 2015.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. TEMSX has a 5-year annualized total return of -4.16% and it sits in the bottom 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 -5.54%, which places it in the bottom 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. TEMSX's standard deviation over the past three years is 22.67% compared to the category average of 17.27%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 20.55% compared to the category average of 15.27%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.82, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -10.39, which shows that 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 0.97% compared to the category average of 1.15%. TEMSX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

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

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Equity Report, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Nuveen Emerging Mkts Equity Retm (TEMSX) - free report >>

Published in