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Is Fidelity Europe (FIEUX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Having trouble finding a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? Well, Fidelity Europe (FIEUX - Free Report) would not be a good potential starting point right now. FIEUX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

FIEUX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Europe debuted in October of 1986. Since then, FIEUX has accumulated assets of about $585.21 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Melissa Reilly, has been in charge of the fund since November of 2008.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.18%, and is 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 2.04%, 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. Over the past three years, FIEUX's standard deviation comes in at 22.11%, compared to the category average of 17.69%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 19.41% compared to the category average of 15.46%. 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 0.95, 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. With a negative alpha of -8.23, 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, FIEUX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.90% compared to the category average of 1.31%. FIEUX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

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 Europe ( FIEUX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Europe ( FIEUX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on FIEUXin the Mutual Fund Equity Report category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank 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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