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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 carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FEMKX is classified in the Non US - Equity area by Zacks, and this segment is full of potential. Non US - Equity funds focus their investments on companies outside of the United States, which is an important distinction since global mutual funds tend to keep a sizable portion of their portfolio based in the United States. Most of these funds will allocate across emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too.
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 is currently managed by Sammy Simnegar who has been in charge of the fund since October of 2012.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 7.91%, and is 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% The fund's 3-year annualized total return of 7.89% places it in the top third, a metric that will likely stand out if you prefer to look at shorter time frames.
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%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years 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
One cannot ignore the volatility of this segment, however, as it is always important for investors to remember the downside to any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, FEMKX lost 68.13% and underperformed comparable funds by 9.76%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. FEMKX has a 5-year beta of 0.92, which means it 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. With a negative alpha of -4.85, 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, FEMKX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.95% compared to the category average of 1.31%. From a cost perspective, FEMKX is actually cheaper than its peers.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
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 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. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.
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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 carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FEMKX is classified in the Non US - Equity area by Zacks, and this segment is full of potential. Non US - Equity funds focus their investments on companies outside of the United States, which is an important distinction since global mutual funds tend to keep a sizable portion of their portfolio based in the United States. Most of these funds will allocate across emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too.
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 is currently managed by Sammy Simnegar who has been in charge of the fund since October of 2012.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 7.91%, and is 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% The fund's 3-year annualized total return of 7.89% places it in the top third, a metric that will likely stand out if you prefer to look at shorter time frames.
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%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years 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
One cannot ignore the volatility of this segment, however, as it is always important for investors to remember the downside to any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, FEMKX lost 68.13% and underperformed comparable funds by 9.76%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. FEMKX has a 5-year beta of 0.92, which means it 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. With a negative alpha of -4.85, 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, FEMKX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.95% compared to the category average of 1.31%. From a cost perspective, FEMKX is actually cheaper than its peers.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
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 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. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.