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Is Matthews India Fund (MINDX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

If you have been looking for Pacific Rim - Equity funds, a place to start could be Matthews India Fund (MINDX). MINDX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

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.

History of Fund/Manager

Matthews Asia is based in San Francisco, CA, and is the manager of MINDX. Matthews India Fund debuted in October of 2005. Since then, MINDX has accumulated assets of about $675.23 million, according to the most recently available information. Peeyush Mittal is the fund's current manager and has held that role since April of 2018.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. MINDX has a 5-year annualized total return of 9.51% and is in the bottom third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 11.28%, 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. MINDX's standard deviation over the past three years is 12.71% compared to the category average of 14.05%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 20.44% compared to the category average of 17.77%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

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 0.7, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 0.78. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, MINDX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.14% compared to the category average of 1.17%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, MINDX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, and each subsequent investment should be at least $100.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Overall, even with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Matthews India Fund ( MINDX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a great potential choice for investors right now.

Don't stop here for your research on Pacific Rim - Equity funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare MINDX to its peers 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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Zacks Investment Research