Is Matthews Japan Fund (MJFOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Looking for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You may want to consider Matthews Japan Fund (MJFOX) as a possible option. MJFOX holds 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

Matthews Asia is responsible for MJFOX, and the company is based out of San Francisco, CA. Matthews Japan Fund made its debut in December of 1998, and since then, MJFOX has accumulated about $399 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Taizo Ishida and Shuntaro Takeuchi are the fund's current managers.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 9.82%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 14.33%, 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. MJFOX's standard deviation over the past three years is 14.95% compared to the category average of 15.79%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 14.6% compared to the category average of 13.15%. 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 0.64, so it is likely going to be 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. MJFOX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -1.75, 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, MJFOX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.95% compared to the category average of 1.48%. So, MJFOX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, Matthews Japan Fund ( MJFOX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about MJFOX? 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 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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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.