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Is Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund (FSEAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Having trouble finding a Pacific Rim - Equity fund? Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund (FSEAX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. FSEAX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FSEAX 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
FSEAX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund made its debut in April of 1993, and since then, FSEAX has accumulated about $1.02 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by John Dance who has been in charge of the fund since September of 2016.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. FSEAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 6.59% 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 13.1%, 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. Compared to the category average of 13.23%, the standard deviation of FSEAX over the past three years is 14.54%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 15.35% compared to the category average of 14.09%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. In FSEAX's case, the fund lost 63.85% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 6.01%. These results could imply that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.86, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. 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. FSEAX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -1.12, which means 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, FSEAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1% compared to the category average of 1.35%. So, FSEAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
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, Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund ( FSEAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Pacific Rim - Equity, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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 Asia Fund (FSEAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Having trouble finding a Pacific Rim - Equity fund? Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund (FSEAX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. FSEAX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FSEAX 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
FSEAX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund made its debut in April of 1993, and since then, FSEAX has accumulated about $1.02 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by John Dance who has been in charge of the fund since September of 2016.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. FSEAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 6.59% 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 13.1%, 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. Compared to the category average of 13.23%, the standard deviation of FSEAX over the past three years is 14.54%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 15.35% compared to the category average of 14.09%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. In FSEAX's case, the fund lost 63.85% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 6.01%. These results could imply that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.86, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. 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. FSEAX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -1.12, which means 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, FSEAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1% compared to the category average of 1.35%. So, FSEAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
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, Fidelity Emerging Asia Fund ( FSEAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Pacific Rim - Equity, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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.