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Is Schwab Fundamental International Small Company Index (SFILX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Non US - Equity fund seekers should consider taking a look at Schwab Fundamental International Small Company Index (SFILX - Free Report) . SFILX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We classify SFILX in the Non US - Equity category, which is an area rife with potential choices. Investing in companies outside the United States is how Non US - Equity funds set themselves apart, since global funds tend to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. Many of these funds like to allocate across emerging and developed markets, and will often focus on all cap levels.

History of Fund/Manager

SFILX is a part of the Schwab Funds family of funds, a company based out of San Francisco, CA. Since Schwab Fundamental International Small Company Index made its debut in January of 2008, SFILX has garnered more than $593 million in assets. 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 12.13%, and it sits in the top 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 15.38%, 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. Over the past three years, SFILX's standard deviation comes in at 10.42%, compared to the category average of 12.53%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 10.51% compared to the category average of 11.95%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of.

Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.8, the fund 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. SFILX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.19, demonstrating 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, SFILX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.49% compared to the category average of 1.29%. SFILX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $100, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Schwab Fundamental International Small Company Index has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Schwab Fundamental International Small Company Index looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Your research on the Non US - Equity 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. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.


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