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

Looking for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You may want to consider Matthews India Fund (MINDX) as a possible option. MINDX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

MINDX is a part of the Matthews Asia family of funds, a company based out of San Francisco, CA. The Matthews India Fund made its debut in October of 2005 and MINDX has managed to accumulate roughly $631.75 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current lead manager is Peeyush Mittal and Sharat Shroff is the co-manager.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 3.22%, and is in the bottom third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 6.96%, which places it in the bottom 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. The standard deviation of MINDX over the past three years is 24.66% compared to the category average of 20.51%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 21.82% compared to the category average of 18.1%. 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 0.67, 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. MINDX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.46, 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, MINDX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.17% compared to the category average of 1.29%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, MINDX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,500; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, Matthews India Fund ( MINDX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about MINDX? 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. 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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