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Is Artisan International Fund Investor (ARTIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Having trouble finding a Non US - Equity fund? Artisan International Fund Investor (ARTIX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. ARTIX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

Zacks categorizes ARTIX as Non US - Equity, a segment stacked high with options. Non US - Equity mutual funds like to invest in companies outside of the United States, an important characteristic since global mutual funds are known to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. These kinds of funds can often extend across all cap levels, and will typically allocate their investments between emerging and developed markets.

History of Fund/Manager

ARTIX is a part of the Artisan Funds family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. The Artisan International Fund Investor made its debut in December of 1995 and ARTIX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.75 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Mark L. Yockey, has been in charge of the fund since December of 1995.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 9.71%, and it sits 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 23.66%, 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. Over the past three years, ARTIX's standard deviation comes in at 13.22%, compared to the category average of 12.15%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 16.15% compared to the category average of 14.4%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.83, so investors should note that it is hypothetically 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. ARTIX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.19, demonstrating 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, ARTIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.18% compared to the category average of 0.93%. So, ARTIX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

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 strong performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, Artisan International Fund Investor ( ARTIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about ARTIX? 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. 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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