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Is Ivy Emerging Markets Equity I (IPOIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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On the lookout for a Pacific Rim - Equity fund? Starting with Ivy Emerging Markets Equity I (IPOIX - Free Report) should not be a possibility at this time. IPOIX has 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

IPOIX finds itself in the Ivy Funds family, based out of Boca Raton, FL. The Ivy Emerging Markets Equity I made its debut in April of 2007 and IPOIX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.01 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Jonas Krumplys, has been in charge of the fund since March of 2014.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 10.46%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 14.53%, 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. The standard deviation of IPOIX over the past three years is 17.51% compared to the category average of 9.36%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 15.33% 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 should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. In IPOIX's case, the fund lost 60.53% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 2.31%. 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. IPOIX has a 5-year beta of 0.92, which means it 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. With a negative alpha of -2.92, 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, IPOIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.99% compared to the category average of 1.45%. From a cost perspective, IPOIX 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.

Bottom Line

Overall, Ivy Emerging Markets Equity I has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Ivy Emerging Markets Equity I looks like a somewhat weak 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 IPOIX too for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.


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