Matthews KoreaMAKOX

Morningstar Rating

Fund Research and Analysis

by Arijit Dutta

It's not quite Matthews Korea's time to shine yet, but be patient.

At any rate, this year's bumper absolute returns are certainly welcome after the devastating losses in 2008. As in most emerging markets in Asia, Korean stocks have rebounded sharply, powering this fund to a 59% return this year through Oct. Read more

Kudos

Generally delivers huge gains when the wild Korean market soars.

Strong research and management team.

Provides relatively broad exposure to chosen market.

Relatively attractive expense ratio. Read more

Risks

Suffers painful losses when Korean market plunges.

This fund--like all single-country, emerging-markets offerings--comes with lots of political and other risks and thus is appropriate only for sophisticated investors. Read more

Strategy

The managers are all-cap stock-pickers who look for strong earnings growth and attractive valuations. They're not afraid to go their own way and deviate from the Korean market indexes. The fund does not normally hedge its currency exposure. Read more

Management

Lead manager Michael Oh is also in charge of Matthews Asia Technology MATFX. Michael Han was the dedicated Korea analyst at Matthews International Capital Management and now serves as a comanager. Former co-lead manager Mark Headley pared back his responsibilities here on Jan. Read more

Inside Scoop

This fund's Korea focus makes it incredibly volatile. With more small caps than most rivals, it offers broader exposure to that country than other Korea funds. Read more

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