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Is Fidelity Emerging Markets K (FKEMX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, consider Fidelity Emerging Markets K (FKEMX - Free Report) as a possibility. FKEMX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

FKEMX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Emerging Markets K made its debut in May of 2008, FKEMX has garnered more than $1.13 billion in assets. John Dance is the fund's current manager and has held that role since February of 2019.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. FKEMX has a 5-year annualized total return of 4.8% and it sits 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 -2.76%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.

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. Over the past three years, FKEMX's standard deviation comes in at 19.71%, compared to the category average of 15.64%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 20.24% compared to the category average of 16.86%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.8, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -2.57. This means 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, FKEMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.77% compared to the category average of 1.13%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FKEMX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Emerging Markets K ( FKEMX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential 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 FKEMX too 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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