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Is Goldman Sachs Emerging Markets Equity A (GEMAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Equity Report fund category, make sure to pass over Goldman Sachs Emerging Markets Equity A (GEMAX - Free Report) . GEMAX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Goldman Sachs is responsible for GEMAX, and the company is based out of New York, NY. The Goldman Sachs Emerging Markets Equity A made its debut in December of 1997 and GEMAX has managed to accumulate roughly $165.16 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Basak Yavuz, has been in charge of the fund since February of 2015.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. GEMAX has a 5-year annualized total return of -1.84% and it sits 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 0.2%, 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. GEMAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 22.98% compared to the category average of 17.78%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 20.26% compared to the category average of 15.61%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.77, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. GEMAX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -8.13, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, GEMAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.31% compared to the category average of 1.14%. From a cost perspective, GEMAX is actually more expensive than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, Goldman Sachs Emerging Markets Equity A ( GEMAX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, Goldman Sachs Emerging Markets Equity A ( GEMAX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Equity Report area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into GEMAX too for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.


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