Is American Century International Opportunity A (AIVOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

On the lookout for a Non US – Equity fund? Starting with American Century International Opportunity A (AIVOX) should not be a possibility at this time. AIVOX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Zacks categorizes AIVOX as Non US – Equity, a segment stacked high with options. Non US – Equity mutual funds like to invest in companies outside of the United States, an important characteristic since global mutual funds are known to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. These kinds of funds can often extend across all cap levels, and will typically allocate their investments between emerging and developed markets.

American Century is based in Kansas City, MO, and is the manager of AIVOX. The American Century International Opportunity A made its debut in March of 2010 and AIVOX has managed to accumulate roughly $4.56 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund’s current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. AIVOX has a 5-year annualized total return of 2.74% 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 -2.82%, which places it in the bottom 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. The standard deviation of AIVOX over the past three years is 17.97% compared to the category average of 15.2%. The fund’s standard deviation over the past 5 years is 20.46% compared to the category average of 16.56%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund’s risk compared to the market as a whole. AIVOX has a 5-year beta of 1.05, which means it is likely to be more 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. With a negative alpha of -12.35, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.