Is Matthews Asia Dividend Fund Investor (MAPIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Have you been searching for a Pacific Rim - Equity fund? You might want to begin with Matthews Asia Dividend Fund Investor (MAPIX). MAPIX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
MAPIX 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.
History of Fund/Manager
Matthews Asia is based in San Francisco, CA, and is the manager of MAPIX. Since Matthews Asia Dividend Fund Investor made its debut in October of 2006, MAPIX has garnered more than $252.81 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 3.2%, 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 0.73%, which places it in the bottom 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.
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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. MAPIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 15.95% compared to the category average of 15.36%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 15.66% compared to the category average of 15.2%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.59, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. 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. MAPIX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -6, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.