Any investors hoping to find a Pacific Rim - Equity fund might consider looking past Matthews India Fund (MINDX). MINDX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
MINDX is classified in the Pacific Rim - Equity segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Pacific Rim - Equity mutual funds see big investment opportunities in the dominant export-focused markets of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea. These funds also invest less than 10% of their assets in Japanese firms, as Japan mutual funds are very popular.
MINDX is a part of the Matthews Asia family of funds, a company based out of San Francisco, CA. Matthews India Fund made its debut in October of 2005, and since then, MINDX has accumulated about $720.16 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Peeyush Mittal who has been in charge of the fund since April of 2018.
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. MINDX has a 5-year annualized total return of 11.1% and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 6.87%, 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. Compared to the category average of 13.67%, the standard deviation of MINDX over the past three years is 12.42%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 20.28% compared to the category average of 17.61%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. MINDX has a 5-year beta of 0.75, 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 0.26. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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, MINDX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.16% compared to the category average of 1.17%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, MINDX is actually cheaper than its peers.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Overall, Matthews India Fund ( MINDX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Matthews India Fund ( MINDX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
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