There are plenty of choices in the Non US - Equity category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that you should consider investigating is Templeton Developing Markets A (TEDMX Quick QuoteTEDMX - Free Report) . TEDMX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

Zacks categorizes TEDMX as Non US - Equity, a segment stacked high with options. Non US - Equity mutual funds like to invest in companies outside of the United States, an important characteristic since global mutual funds are known to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. These kinds of funds can often extend across all cap levels, and will typically allocate their investments between emerging and developed markets.

History of Fund/Manager

TEDMX finds itself in the Franklin Templeton family, based out of San Mateo, CA. Since Templeton Developing Markets A made its debut in October of 1991, TEDMX has garnered more than $1.17 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by Chetan Sehgal who has been in charge of the fund since April of 2017.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. TEDMX has a 5-year annualized total return of 15.65% and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.79%, 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. Over the past three years, TEDMX's standard deviation comes in at 20.72%, compared to the category average of 16.01%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 17.92% compared to the category average of 13.69%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. TEDMX 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. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 1.99, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, TEDMX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.38% compared to the category average of 1.20%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, TEDMX is actually more expensive than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Templeton Developing Markets A ( TEDMX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about TEDMX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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.