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Is Guinness Atkinson Global Innovators Fund (IWIRX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Equity Report category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that may not be worth investigating is Guinness Atkinson Global Innovators Fund (IWIRX - Free Report) . IWIRX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Guinness Atkinson is based in Woodland Hills, CA, and is the manager of IWIRX. Guinness Atkinson Global Innovators Fund debuted in December of 1998. Since then, IWIRX has accumulated assets of about $182.2 million, according to the most recently available information. Matthew Page and Ian Mortimer are the co-managers of the fund.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 15.44%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 19.23%, 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. Compared to the category average of 17.13%, the standard deviation of IWIRX over the past three years is 19.62%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 17.82% compared to the category average of 15.31%. 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 1.05, so it is likely going to be more 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. IWIRX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -0.8, which means 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, IWIRX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.17% compared to the category average of 1.10%. So, IWIRX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $5,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $250.

Bottom Line

Overall, Guinness Atkinson Global Innovators Fund ( IWIRX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Equity Report area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into IWIRX too 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.


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