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Is Matthews Asia Dividend Fund Investor (MAPIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Having trouble finding a Pacific Rim - Equity fund? Well, Matthews Asia Dividend Fund Investor (MAPIX - Free Report) would not be a good potential starting point right now. MAPIX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
MAPIX is one of many Pacific Rim - Equity funds to choose from. Pacific Rim - Equity mutual funds typically invest in companies throughout the dominant export-focused markets of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea. Since Japan mutual funds are already popular in their own right, these Pacific funds will usually invest less than 10% of their assets in Japanese companies.
History of Fund/Manager
Matthews Asia is based in San Francisco, CA, and is the manager of MAPIX. Matthews Asia Dividend Fund Investor made its debut in October of 2006, and since then, MAPIX has accumulated about $2.91 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
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 6.85%, and is in the top 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 8.58%, 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, MAPIX's standard deviation comes in at 10.75%, compared to the category average of 11.05%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 11.44% compared to the category average of 11.66%. This makes the fund less 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 the most recent bear market, MAPIX lost 34.87% and outperformed its peer group by 22.98%. This could mean that the fund is a better choice than comparable funds during a bear market.
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.69, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. 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 -0.98, 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, MAPIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.01% compared to the category average of 1.35%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, MAPIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.
Bottom Line
Overall, Matthews Asia Dividend Fund Investor ( MAPIX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.
This could just be the start of your research on MAPIXin the Pacific Rim - Equity category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.
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Is Matthews Asia Dividend Fund Investor (MAPIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Having trouble finding a Pacific Rim - Equity fund? Well, Matthews Asia Dividend Fund Investor (MAPIX - Free Report) would not be a good potential starting point right now. MAPIX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
MAPIX is one of many Pacific Rim - Equity funds to choose from. Pacific Rim - Equity mutual funds typically invest in companies throughout the dominant export-focused markets of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea. Since Japan mutual funds are already popular in their own right, these Pacific funds will usually invest less than 10% of their assets in Japanese companies.
History of Fund/Manager
Matthews Asia is based in San Francisco, CA, and is the manager of MAPIX. Matthews Asia Dividend Fund Investor made its debut in October of 2006, and since then, MAPIX has accumulated about $2.91 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
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 6.85%, and is in the top 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 8.58%, 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, MAPIX's standard deviation comes in at 10.75%, compared to the category average of 11.05%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 11.44% compared to the category average of 11.66%. This makes the fund less 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 the most recent bear market, MAPIX lost 34.87% and outperformed its peer group by 22.98%. This could mean that the fund is a better choice than comparable funds during a bear market.
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.69, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. 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 -0.98, 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, MAPIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.01% compared to the category average of 1.35%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, MAPIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.
Bottom Line
Overall, Matthews Asia Dividend Fund Investor ( MAPIX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.
This could just be the start of your research on MAPIXin the Pacific Rim - Equity category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.