There are plenty of choices in the Non US - Equity category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Investor (VEIEX). While this fund is not tracked by the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we were able to examine other factors like performance, volatility, and cost.

Objective

We classify VEIEX 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.

History of Fund/Manager

Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VEIEX. Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Investor debuted in May of 1994. Since then, VEIEX has accumulated assets of about $172.30 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Michael Perre, has been in charge of the fund since August of 2008.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. VEIEX has a 5-year annualized total return of 13.55% and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 3.83%, which places it in the bottom 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. Over the past three years, VEIEX's standard deviation comes in at 19.25%, compared to the category average of 15.51%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 17.07% compared to the category average of 13.1%. 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 0.85, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. With a positive alpha of 0.26, managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, VEIEX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.29% compared to the category average of 1.19%. So, VEIEX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Want even more information about VEIEX? 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. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.

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