TCW Emerging Markets Income N (TGINX) Fund

TCW Emerging Markets Income fund is another best bond mutual fund. This emerging markets bond fund invests in emerging markets countries: Brazil, Mexico, Russia, China, Peru, Venezuela, UAE, Indonesia, India, etc.

TCW Emerging Markets Income N (Ticker: TGINX)

The TCW Emerging Markets Income fund objective is to achieve high total return from current income and capital appreciation. This fund focuses its investment in bond offered by companies, financial institutions and government entities in Emerging Market Countries. It may invest in high yield, unrated, and defaulted corporate securities.

TGINX fund

Fund Profile

• Fund Inception Date: March 1, 2004
• Ticker Symbol: TGINX
• CUSIP: 87234N-351
• Beta (3yr): 0.16
• Rank in category (YTD): 31%
• Category: Emerging Markets Bond
• Distribution: 6.43%
• Capital Gains: 0%
• Expense Ratio: 1.15%
• Net Assets: $ 3.41 billion
• Number of Years Up: 6 years
• Number of Years Down: 1 year
• Annual Turnover Rate: 137.87%

updated on 7/15/2012

Morningstar ranks this Emerging Markets Bond fund with 5-stars rating for its performance. It has total net assets of $3.41 billion. The dividend yield is 6.43%. Investors have received their monthly dividend distribution on February 29, 2012 ($0.05). The annual holdings turnover as of March 13, 2012 is 137.87%. This turnover rate is higher than the average in the category (70.26%). Its expense ratio is 1.15% per year. This no load fund has a 12b1 fee of 0.25%.

The lead portfolio manager of this fund is Javier D. Segovia. He has started managing this emerging markets bond fund in December 2009. The performance of this bond mutual fund since its inception is as below:

• Year 2010: 20.75%
• Year 2009: 44.57% (best performance)
• Year 2008: -12.66% (worst performance)
• Year 2007: 4.03%
• Year 2006: 7.73%
• Year 2005: 6.81%

This best rated fund has YTD return of 8.33%. Based on the load adjusted return, it has returned 7.42% over the past 1-year, and 12.18% over the past 10-year. The 3-year beta risk is 0.16.

The minimum initial investment needed is $2,000 for brokerage account. It can be purchased through variety of brokerages such as Schwab Retail, Ameriprise Brokerage, Raymond James, Scottrade NTF, Vanguard NTF, JP Morgan, LPL SAM Eligible, MSSB Retail Fund, etc. The Institutional Class of this fund (TGEIX) was inception in 1996.

The top holdings as of first quarter report of 2012 (March 31, 2012) are Petroleos de Venezuela (5.35%), Government of Mexico (4.01%), Republic of Brazil (2.34%), Government of Indonesia (1.97%), Government of Russia (1.95%), Virgolino de Oliveira (1.85%), IPIC GMTN Limited (1.84%), SB Capital (1.74%), Alfa Bond Issuance (1.65%) and Pemex (1.59%). The top industry distributions are Banking (24.63%), Oil & Gas (22.31%), Mining (12.52%) and Utilities (10.57%). The fund’s benchmark is JP Morgan EMBI Global Diversified.

According to the fund website, the principal investment risks are: Emerging Market Country Risk, Foreign Currency Risk, Interest Rate Risk, Credit Risk, Price Volatility Risk, Derivatives Risk, Defaulted Securities Risk, Junk Bond Risk, Leveraging Risk, Foreign Investing Risk, Liquidity risk, etc.

Pros:

• No sales load
• Good performance

Cons:

• High annual holding turnover rate
• New management since 2009

Disclosure: No Position

Other mutual fund posts:

• Top Diversified Emerging Markets Stock Mutual Funds
• Best High Yield Bond Mutual Funds 2012