Is American Century International Opportunity Institutional (ACIOX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Any investors hoping to find a Non US – Equity fund might consider looking past American Century International Opportunity Institutional (ACIOX). ACIOX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

We classify ACIOX in the Non US – Equity category, which is an area rife with potential choices. Investing in companies outside the United States is how Non US – Equity funds set themselves apart, since global funds tend to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. Many of these funds like to allocate across emerging and developed markets, and will often focus on all cap levels.

ACIOX is a part of the American Century family of funds, a company based out of Kansas City, MO. American Century International Opportunity Institutional debuted in January of 2003. Since then, ACIOX has accumulated assets of about $127.84 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund’s current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.56%, and it sits in the bottom 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 -3.48%, 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. Compared to the category average of 15.18%, the standard deviation of ACIOX over the past three years is 18%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 18.91% compared to the category average of 16.32%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.99, which means it is hypothetically as volatile as the market at large. 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. ACIOX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -9.84, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.