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Is Wasatch Emerging India Fund (WAINX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

There are plenty of choices in the Pacific Rim - Equity category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Wasatch Emerging India Fund (WAINX). WAINX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

WAINX 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

WAINX is a part of the Wasatch family of funds, a company based out of Salt Lake City, UT. Wasatch Emerging India Fund debuted in April of 2011. Since then, WAINX has accumulated assets of about $165.33 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Ajay Krishnan who has been in charge of the fund since April of 2011.

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Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. WAINX has a 5-year annualized total return of 12.8% and is in the top 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 6.56%, 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. WAINX's standard deviation over the past three years is 24.74% compared to the category average of 19.88%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 22.57% compared to the category average of 17.41%. 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 0.74, which means it is hypothetically 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 3.98. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, WAINX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.61% compared to the category average of 1.44%. WAINX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, Wasatch Emerging India Fund ( WAINX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Wasatch Emerging India Fund ( WAINX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about WAINX? 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. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.


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