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Is Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund (MSEQX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Have you been searching for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You might want to begin with Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund (MSEQX - Free Report) . MSEQX carries 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
MSEQX is a part of the MorgStanley family of funds, a company based out of New York, NY. Since Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund made its debut in April of 1991, MSEQX has garnered more than $2.21 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.93%, 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 -1.59%, 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 MSEQX over the past three years is 35.95% compared to the category average of 17.75%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 30.35% compared to the category average of 15.6%. 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 1.14, which means it is hypothetically more 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -4.19, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Exploring the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is principally on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 81.57% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $27.68 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Retail Trade
Health
Turnover is 50%, which means, on average, the fund makes more trades in a given year than the average of comparable funds.
Expenses
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, MSEQX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.64% compared to the category average of 0.99%. From a cost perspective, MSEQX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1 million and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund ( MSEQX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund ( MSEQX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Equity Report, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.
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Is Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund (MSEQX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Have you been searching for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You might want to begin with Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund (MSEQX - Free Report) . MSEQX carries 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
MSEQX is a part of the MorgStanley family of funds, a company based out of New York, NY. Since Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund made its debut in April of 1991, MSEQX has garnered more than $2.21 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.93%, 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 -1.59%, 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 MSEQX over the past three years is 35.95% compared to the category average of 17.75%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 30.35% compared to the category average of 15.6%. 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 1.14, which means it is hypothetically more 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -4.19, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Exploring the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is principally on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 81.57% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $27.68 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Retail Trade
- Health
Turnover is 50%, which means, on average, the fund makes more trades in a given year than the average of comparable funds.Expenses
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, MSEQX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.64% compared to the category average of 0.99%. From a cost perspective, MSEQX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1 million and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Overall, Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund ( MSEQX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund ( MSEQX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Equity Report, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.