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Is TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement (TEMSX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, it would not be wise to start your search with TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement (TEMSX - Free Report) . TEMSX carries 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

TEMSX is a part of the TIAA-CREF family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. The TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement made its debut in August of 2010 and TEMSX has managed to accumulate roughly $103.03 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Barton Grenning, has been in charge of the fund since March of 2015.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 4.36%, and is 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 2%, 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. Compared to the category average of 15.6%, the standard deviation of TEMSX over the past three years is 21.69%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 19.59% compared to the category average of 13.87%. 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 0.88, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -7.79, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, TEMSX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.98% compared to the category average of 1.15%. From a cost perspective, TEMSX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

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.

Your research on the Mutual Fund Equity Report segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well 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.


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