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Is Matthews China Small Companies Investor (MCSMX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, consider Matthews China Small Companies Investor (MCSMX - Free Report) as a possibility. MCSMX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

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 $155.98 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Winnie Chwang, has been in charge of the fund since August of 2020.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 2.79%, 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 0.74%, 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, MCSMX's standard deviation comes in at 25.13%, compared to the category average of 20.08%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 23.61% compared to the category average of 18.31%. 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 0.48, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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 -0.64, 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, MCSMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.44% compared to the category average of 1.29%. From a cost perspective, MCSMX is actually more expensive than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $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, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Matthews China Small Companies Investor ( MCSMX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about MCSMX? 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. 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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