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Is Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund (FSEAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Having trouble finding a Pacific Rim - Equity fund? Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund (FSEAX - Free Report) is a possible starting point. FSEAX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FSEAX is one of many Pacific Rim - Equity funds to choose from. Pacific Rim - Equity mutual funds typically invest in companies throughout the dominant export-focused markets of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea. Since Japan mutual funds are already popular in their own right, these Pacific funds will usually invest less than 10% of their assets in Japanese companies.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FSEAX. Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund made its debut in April of 1993, and since then, FSEAX has accumulated about $931.12 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Xiaoting Zhao is the fund's current manager and has held that role since June of 2019.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. FSEAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 8.58% and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of -12.65%, which places it in the bottom third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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. Compared to the category average of 20.85%, the standard deviation of FSEAX over the past three years is 22.86%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 23.15% compared to the category average of 21.32%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.74, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. FSEAX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -1.64, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, FSEAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.87% compared to the category average of 1.23%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FSEAX 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.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund ( FSEAX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund ( FSEAX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Pacific Rim - Equity area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into FSEAX too 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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Is Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund (FSEAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Having trouble finding a Pacific Rim - Equity fund? Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund (FSEAX - Free Report) is a possible starting point. FSEAX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FSEAX is one of many Pacific Rim - Equity funds to choose from. Pacific Rim - Equity mutual funds typically invest in companies throughout the dominant export-focused markets of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea. Since Japan mutual funds are already popular in their own right, these Pacific funds will usually invest less than 10% of their assets in Japanese companies.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FSEAX. Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund made its debut in April of 1993, and since then, FSEAX has accumulated about $931.12 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Xiaoting Zhao is the fund's current manager and has held that role since June of 2019.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. FSEAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 8.58% and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of -12.65%, which places it in the bottom third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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. Compared to the category average of 20.85%, the standard deviation of FSEAX over the past three years is 22.86%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 23.15% compared to the category average of 21.32%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.74, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. FSEAX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -1.64, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, FSEAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.87% compared to the category average of 1.23%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FSEAX 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.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund ( FSEAX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund ( FSEAX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Pacific Rim - Equity area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into FSEAX too 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.