If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, it would not be wise to start your search with American Funds EuroPacific Growth R6 (RERGX Quick QuoteRERGX - Free Report) . RERGX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

American Funds is based in Los Angeles, CA, and is the manager of RERGX. American Funds EuroPacific Growth R6 debuted in May of 2009. Since then, RERGX has accumulated assets of about $89.03 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 10.19%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 12%, 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. RERGX's standard deviation over the past three years is 18.16% compared to the category average of 14.43%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.12% compared to the category average of 12.68%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.9, so investors should note that 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. RERGX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -4.09, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, RERGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.46% compared to the category average of 1.16%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, RERGX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $250, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, American Funds EuroPacific Growth R6 ( RERGX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

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