If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, a place to start could be Matthews Asia Innovators Investor (MATFX Quick QuoteMATFX - Free Report) . MATFX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Matthews Asia is based in San Francisco, CA, and is the manager of MATFX. The Matthews Asia Innovators Investor made its debut in December of 1999 and MATFX has managed to accumulate roughly $465.21 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, J. Michael Oh, has been in charge of the fund since January of 2006.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 8.24%, 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 12.83%, 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. Compared to the category average of 17.44%, the standard deviation of MATFX over the past three years is 22.65%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 21.31% compared to the category average of 15.95%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. MATFX has a 5-year beta of 0.63, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 1.75, which shows 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, MATFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.09% compared to the category average of 1.30%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, MATFX is actually cheaper than its peers.

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

Bottom Line

Overall, Matthews Asia Innovators Investor ( MATFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about MATFX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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.