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Is Matthews China Investor (MCHFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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There are plenty of choices in the China - Equity category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Matthews China Investor (MCHFX - Free Report) . MCHFX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
MCHFX is one of many China - Equity mutual funds to choose from. These funds focus their investments almost exclusively on stocks in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. We tend to associate the Chinese economy with vast export-focused manufacturing, and although this is still important, China is increasingly catering to its booming middle class. If this approach sounds appealing to you, MCHFX could be the way to go.
History of Fund/Manager
Matthews Asia is based in San Francisco, CA, and is the manager of MCHFX. The Matthews China Investor made its debut in February of 1998 and MCHFX has managed to accumulate roughly $295.52 million in assets, as of 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 carries a 5-year annualized total return of -2.17%, and is in the middle 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 -2.62%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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 MCHFX over the past three years is 34.93% compared to the category average of 21.41%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 30.19% compared to the category average of 19.56%. 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. MCHFX has a 5-year beta of 0.33, 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. With a negative alpha of -5.23, 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, MCHFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.25% compared to the category average of 1.13%. From a cost perspective, MCHFX 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 $100.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Matthews China Investor ( MCHFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on MCHFX in the China - Equity 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. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.
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Is Matthews China Investor (MCHFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the China - Equity category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Matthews China Investor (MCHFX - Free Report) . MCHFX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
MCHFX is one of many China - Equity mutual funds to choose from. These funds focus their investments almost exclusively on stocks in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. We tend to associate the Chinese economy with vast export-focused manufacturing, and although this is still important, China is increasingly catering to its booming middle class. If this approach sounds appealing to you, MCHFX could be the way to go.
History of Fund/Manager
Matthews Asia is based in San Francisco, CA, and is the manager of MCHFX. The Matthews China Investor made its debut in February of 1998 and MCHFX has managed to accumulate roughly $295.52 million in assets, as of 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 carries a 5-year annualized total return of -2.17%, and is in the middle 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 -2.62%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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 MCHFX over the past three years is 34.93% compared to the category average of 21.41%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 30.19% compared to the category average of 19.56%. 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. MCHFX has a 5-year beta of 0.33, 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. With a negative alpha of -5.23, 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, MCHFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.25% compared to the category average of 1.13%. From a cost perspective, MCHFX 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 $100.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively similar performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Matthews China Investor ( MCHFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on MCHFX in the China - Equity 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. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.