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Is Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEMKX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Any investors hoping to find a Non US - Equity fund could think about starting with Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEMKX - Free Report) . FEMKX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FEMKX is classified in the Non US - Equity area by Zacks, and this segment is full of potential. Non US - Equity funds focus their investments on companies outside of the United States, which is an important distinction since global mutual funds tend to keep a sizable portion of their portfolio based in the United States. Most of these funds will allocate across emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is responsible for FEMKX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Emerging Markets made its debut in November of 1990, FEMKX has garnered more than $3.60 billion in assets. Sammy Simnegar is the fund's current manager and has held that role since October of 2012.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 4.22%, 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 9.81%, 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, FEMKX's standard deviation comes in at 14.53%, compared to the category average of 10.99%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 14.55% compared to the category average of 11.38%. This makes the fund more 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. FEMKX lost 68.12% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 10%. This could mean that the fund is a worse choice than comparable funds during a bear market.
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.88, so it is likely going to be 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. FEMKX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -4.02, 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, FEMKX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.91% compared to the category average of 1.20%. FEMKX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Emerging Markets ( FEMKX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.
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Is Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEMKX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Any investors hoping to find a Non US - Equity fund could think about starting with Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEMKX - Free Report) . FEMKX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
FEMKX is classified in the Non US - Equity area by Zacks, and this segment is full of potential. Non US - Equity funds focus their investments on companies outside of the United States, which is an important distinction since global mutual funds tend to keep a sizable portion of their portfolio based in the United States. Most of these funds will allocate across emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too.
History of Fund/Manager
Fidelity is responsible for FEMKX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Emerging Markets made its debut in November of 1990, FEMKX has garnered more than $3.60 billion in assets. Sammy Simnegar is the fund's current manager and has held that role since October of 2012.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 4.22%, 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 9.81%, 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, FEMKX's standard deviation comes in at 14.53%, compared to the category average of 10.99%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 14.55% compared to the category average of 11.38%. This makes the fund more 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. FEMKX lost 68.12% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 10%. This could mean that the fund is a worse choice than comparable funds during a bear market.
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.88, so it is likely going to be 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. FEMKX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -4.02, 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, FEMKX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.91% compared to the category average of 1.20%. FEMKX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Emerging Markets ( FEMKX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.