Have you been searching for a Pacific Rim - Equity fund? You might want to begin with T. Rowe Price New Asia Fund (PRASX Quick QuotePRASX - Free Report) . PRASX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

The world of Pacific Rim - Equity funds is an area filled with options, such as PRASX. Pacific Rim - Equity mutual funds usually invest in companies with a big presence in the export-focused markets of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea. These funds also invest less than 10% of their assets in Japanese companies since Japan mutual funds are incredibly popular.

History of Fund/Manager

T. Rowe Price is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of PRASX. T. Rowe Price New Asia Fund made its debut in September of 1990, and since then, PRASX has accumulated about $2.85 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Anh Lu is the fund's current manager and has held that role since June of 2014.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. PRASX has a 5-year annualized total return of 18.57% and is 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 13.32%, 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. PRASX's standard deviation over the past three years is 18.13% compared to the category average of 17.19%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 16.15% compared to the category average of 14.53%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.78, 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. PRASX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 5.3, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, PRASX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.92% compared to the category average of 1.41%. So, PRASX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, T. Rowe Price New Asia Fund ( PRASX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, T. Rowe Price New Asia Fund ( PRASX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

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