Any investors hoping to find a Non US - Equity fund might consider looking past TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement (TEMSX Quick QuoteTEMSX - Free Report) . TEMSX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We classify TEMSX in the Non US - Equity category, which is an area rife with potential choices. Investing in companies outside the United States is how Non US - Equity funds set themselves apart, since global funds tend to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. Many of these funds like to allocate across emerging and developed markets, and will often focus on all cap levels.

History of Fund/Manager

TIAA-CREF is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of TEMSX. The TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement made its debut in August of 2010 and TEMSX has managed to accumulate roughly $136.03 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Barton Grenning who has been in charge of the fund since March of 2015.

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 7.94%, and is in the bottom 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 7.78%, which places it in the bottom 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 TEMSX over the past three years is 23.12% compared to the category average of 16.14%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 19.84% compared to the category average of 13.47%. 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 0.92, which means it is hypothetically 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. With a negative alpha of -5.75, 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, TEMSX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.98% compared to the category average of 1.18%. So, TEMSX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement ( TEMSX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement ( TEMSX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Non US - Equity, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.