DFA Emerging Markets Value I Portfolio (DFEVX) Fund

Many economists and stock analysts have predicted the rise of emerging markets countries to support the world economy. Finding the right stock in this sector will be difficult; using mutual fund may be the better way to diversify your assets. One of best emerging markets stock funds is DFA Emerging Markets Value I fund.

DFA Emerging Markets Value I Portfolio (DFEVX)

The investment objective of this DFA Emerging Markets Value fund is to seek long-term capital appreciation. This equity fund invests most of its assets in emerging market equity securities that are deemed by the Advisor to be value stocks. It may also invests in frontier markets (emerging market countries in an earlier stage of development) and other markets approved by management.

Fund Details

DFA Emerging Markets Value I

• Fund Inception Date: April 1, 1998
• Ticker Symbol: DFEVX
• CUSIP: 233-203-587
• Beta (3yr): 1.24
• Rank in category (YTD): 12%
• Category: Diversified Emerging Markets
• Distribution: 2.35%
• Capital Gains: 0%
• Expense Ratio: 0.61%
• Net Assets: $ 13.17 billion
• Number of Years Up: 8 years
• Number of Years Down: 5 years
• Annual Turnover Rate: 15.00%

Updated on 3/09/2012

This Diversified Emerging Markets Fund is currently managed by Karen Umland, Joseph Chi, Stephen A. Clark, and Jed S. Fogdall. This DFEVX fund has total net assets of $13.17 billion. The fund has 2.35% dividend yield. And the most recent distribution was in December 2011 ($0.21). The annual holdings turnover for this category is 15.00%. The annual expense ratio of this fund is 0.61%. This figure is lower compared to the average in the Diversified Emerging Markets category (1.64%).

Morningstar gave this international stock fund 5-star rating. Since its inception in 1998, the best return of this top DFA stock fund is 71.94% and the worst is -27.84%. The best five-year annualized average return is 48.83% (November 2002 – October 2007) and the worst five-year annualized average return is 3.38% (May 1998 – April 2003). This fund has recorded 8 years with positive return and 5 years with negative return. Based on the load adjusted return, this fund has returned -25.62% over the past one-year and 17.71% over the past decade.

This fund is available for purchase from 27 brokerages, such as JP Morgan, Fidelity Institutional Funds Network, Schwab Institutional, Pershing Fund center, etc. As of the 2011 annual report, this fund has 0.50% management fee. This fund has a total of 2.183 securities. The top country allocations are China (15.27%), South Korea (14.58%), Brazil (13.02%), Taiwan (12.63%) and South Africa (8.80%).

Fund Composition

The top 10-holdings as of December 2011 are Gazprom OAO (4.34%), Petroleo Brasileiro SA (2.57%), Bank of China Ltd (2.23%), Reliance Industries Ltd (1.63%), Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB DE (1.24%), CV BM & FBOVESPA SA (1.21%), Standard Bank Group Ltd (1.20%), China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd (1.16%), Gold Fields Ltd (1.15%) and Shinhan Financial Group Co Ltd (1.02%). The top 5 sectors are Financials (30.4%), Energy (17.1%), Materials (16.6%), Industrials (10.4%) and Consumer Discretionary (7.3%).

Principal investment risks include Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk, Market Risk, Emerging Markets Risk, Small Company Risk, Value Investment Risk, Derivatives, Securities Lending, etc.

Disclosure: No Position

Other Article about Emerging Markets stock mutual funds:

• Best Diversified Emerging Markets Stock Mutual Funds 2012
• Bernstein Emerging Markets (SNEMX)