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Is Matthews Asia Growth Fund Investor (MPACX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Pacific Rim - Equity fund seekers may want to consider taking a look at Matthews Asia Growth Fund Investor (MPACX - Free Report) . MPACX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
MPACX is classified in the Pacific Rim - Equity segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Pacific Rim - Equity mutual funds see big investment opportunities in the dominant export-focused markets of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea. These funds also invest less than 10% of their assets in Japanese firms, as Japan mutual funds are very popular.
History of Fund/Manager
MPACX is a part of the Matthews Asia family of funds, a company based out of San Francisco, CA. Since Matthews Asia Growth Fund Investor made its debut in October of 2003, MPACX has garnered more than $156.22 million in assets. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. MPACX has a 5-year annualized total return of 0.42% and it sits in the bottom 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 -16.21%, 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. Over the past three years, MPACX's standard deviation comes in at 19.52%, compared to the category average of 16.05%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 20.68% compared to the category average of 16.78%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.77, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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 -9.42, which shows that 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, MPACX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.17% compared to the category average of 0.92%. MPACX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
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.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, Matthews Asia Growth Fund Investor ( MPACX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
Your research on the Pacific Rim - Equity segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer 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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Is Matthews Asia Growth Fund Investor (MPACX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Pacific Rim - Equity fund seekers may want to consider taking a look at Matthews Asia Growth Fund Investor (MPACX - Free Report) . MPACX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
MPACX is classified in the Pacific Rim - Equity segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Pacific Rim - Equity mutual funds see big investment opportunities in the dominant export-focused markets of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea. These funds also invest less than 10% of their assets in Japanese firms, as Japan mutual funds are very popular.
History of Fund/Manager
MPACX is a part of the Matthews Asia family of funds, a company based out of San Francisco, CA. Since Matthews Asia Growth Fund Investor made its debut in October of 2003, MPACX has garnered more than $156.22 million in assets. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. MPACX has a 5-year annualized total return of 0.42% and it sits in the bottom 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 -16.21%, 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. Over the past three years, MPACX's standard deviation comes in at 19.52%, compared to the category average of 16.05%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 20.68% compared to the category average of 16.78%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.77, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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 -9.42, which shows that 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, MPACX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.17% compared to the category average of 0.92%. MPACX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
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.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, Matthews Asia Growth Fund Investor ( MPACX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
Your research on the Pacific Rim - Equity segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer 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.