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Is PREMX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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On the lookout for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? Starting with T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Bond (PREMX - Free Report) should not be a possibility at this time. PREMX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

PREMX is a part of the T. Rowe Price family of funds, a company based out of Baltimore, MD. T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Bond made its debut in December of 1994, and since then, PREMX has accumulated about $541 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Samy Muaddi who has been in charge of the fund since June of 2020.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of -2.95%, and is 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 -5.2%, 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. PREMX's standard deviation over the past three years is 15.73% compared to the category average of 14.97%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 12.95% compared to the category average of 12.83%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.52, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, PREMX has a negative alpha of -2.17, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

Ratings

Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, PREMX has 35.9% in medium quality bonds, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 54.6%, giving PREMX an average quality of BBB. This means that it focuses on medium quality securities.

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, PREMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.98% compared to the category average of 1.12%. From a cost perspective, PREMX 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, T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Bond ( PREMX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Bond ( PREMX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on PREMXin the Mutual Fund Bond category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank 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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