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Is Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEMKX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you've been stuck searching for Non US - Equity funds, consider Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEMKX - Free Report) as a possibility. FEMKX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
Zacks categorizes FEMKX as Non US - Equity, a segment stacked high with options. Non US - Equity mutual funds like to invest in companies outside of the United States, an important characteristic since global mutual funds are known to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. These kinds of funds can often extend across all cap levels, and will typically allocate their investments between emerging and developed markets.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FEMKX. The Fidelity Emerging Markets made its debut in November of 1990 and FEMKX has managed to accumulate roughly $3.93 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Sammy Simnegar, has been in charge of the fund since October of 2012.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. FEMKX has a 5-year annualized total return of 7.91% and it sits in the middle 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 7.89%, 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, FEMKX's standard deviation comes in at 13.66%, compared to the category average of 10.72%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 13.29% compared to the category average of 12.08%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. FEMKX lost 68.13% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 9.76%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
And for investors concerned about the potential drawdown in a really bad calendar year, we can look back to 2008 for that figure. The fund lost over 60.83%, its worst calendar year in a decade.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.92, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -4.85. This means 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, FEMKX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.95% compared to the category average of 1.32%. So, FEMKX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Emerging Markets FEMKX has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Emerging Markets FEMKX looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Non US - Equity funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare FEMKX to its peers 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 Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEMKX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you've been stuck searching for Non US - Equity funds, consider Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEMKX - Free Report) as a possibility. FEMKX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
Zacks categorizes FEMKX as Non US - Equity, a segment stacked high with options. Non US - Equity mutual funds like to invest in companies outside of the United States, an important characteristic since global mutual funds are known to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. These kinds of funds can often extend across all cap levels, and will typically allocate their investments between emerging and developed markets.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FEMKX. The Fidelity Emerging Markets made its debut in November of 1990 and FEMKX has managed to accumulate roughly $3.93 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Sammy Simnegar, has been in charge of the fund since October of 2012.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. FEMKX has a 5-year annualized total return of 7.91% and it sits in the middle 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 7.89%, 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, FEMKX's standard deviation comes in at 13.66%, compared to the category average of 10.72%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 13.29% compared to the category average of 12.08%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. FEMKX lost 68.13% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 9.76%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
And for investors concerned about the potential drawdown in a really bad calendar year, we can look back to 2008 for that figure. The fund lost over 60.83%, its worst calendar year in a decade.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.92, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -4.85. This means 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, FEMKX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.95% compared to the category average of 1.32%. So, FEMKX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Emerging Markets FEMKX has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Emerging Markets FEMKX looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Non US - Equity funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare FEMKX to its peers 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.