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Is Matthews India Fund (MINDX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Any investors hoping to find a Pacific Rim - Equity fund might consider looking past Matthews India Fund (MINDX - Free Report) . MINDX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Matthews Asia is based in San Francisco, CA, and is the manager of MINDX. Since Matthews India Fund made its debut in October of 2005, MINDX has garnered more than $1.48 billion in assets. The fund's current manager, Sharat Shroff, has been in charge of the fund since June of 2006.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 15.81%, and it sits in the top 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 10.6%, which places it in the middle 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. MINDX's standard deviation over the past three years is 14.3% compared to the category average of 11.23%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 18.7% compared to the category average of 13.8%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. MINDX lost 66.29% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 8.07%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.

Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.77, 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 4.78. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, MINDX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.09% compared to the category average of 1.45%. MINDX is actually cheaper 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.

Bottom Line

Overall, Matthews India Fund has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak 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. 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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