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Is American Century Emerging Market Investor (TWMIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, you might want to consider passing on by American Century Emerging Market Investor (TWMIX - Free Report) as a possibility. TWMIX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

American Century is based in Kansas City, MO, and is the manager of TWMIX. Since American Century Emerging Market Investor made its debut in September of 1997, TWMIX has garnered more than $360.12 million in assets. The fund's current manager, Patricia Ribeiro, has been in charge of the fund since May of 2006.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of -2.83%, 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 0.83%, 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 TWMIX over the past three years is 19.86% compared to the category average of 15.83%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 19.79% compared to the category average of 15.72%. 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. TWMIX has a 5-year beta of 0.75, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -10.19. This means that 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, TWMIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.26% compared to the category average of 1.13%. From a cost perspective, TWMIX is actually more expensive than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, American Century Emerging Market Investor ( TWMIX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, American Century Emerging Market Investor ( TWMIX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on TWMIXin the Mutual Fund Equity Report category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.


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