Any investors who are searching for Non US – Equity funds should take a look at ProFunds UltraEmerging Markets Investor (UUPIX). UUPIX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.
Objective
UUPIX is classified in the Non US – Equity area by Zacks, and this segment is full of potential. Non US – Equity funds focus their investments on companies outside of the United States, which is an important distinction since global mutual funds tend to keep a sizable portion of their portfolio based in the United States. Most of these funds will allocate across emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too.
History of Fund/Manager
ProFunds is responsible for UUPIX, and the company is based out of Columbus, OH. ProFunds UltraEmerging Markets Investor made its debut in April of 2006, and since then, UUPIX has accumulated about $8.84 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Alexander Ilyasov is the fund’s current manager and has held that role since August of 2020.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 5.1%, and it sits 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 29.82%, 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. UUPIX’s standard deviation over the past three years is 30.83% compared to the category average of 21%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 41.84% compared to the category average of 24.06%. 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 1.55, so it is likely going to be more volatile than 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -6.27. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.