TIAA-CREF International Eq InstlTIIEX

Morningstar Rating

Fund Research and Analysis

by Hilary Fazzone

TIAA-CREF International Equity's merits have been masked recently.

This fund suffered a loss steeper than that of 95% of its foreign large-blend peers in 2008 due primarily to its managers' decision to buy into some troubled financial stocks before the full blows of the credit crisis had been dealt. Read more

Kudos

Seasoned lead manager.

Expenses are up, but they're still relatively low.

TIAA-CREF is bulking up its analyst coverage of international stocks. Read more

Risks

Below-average market cap could hurt if large-cap stocks rally.

Concentration of assets in top positions courts company-specific risk. Read more

Strategy

Managers Chris Semenuk and Amy Hatta keep the fund's sector and regional weightings aligned with those of the MSCI EAFE Index. However, with relatively large positions in individual holdings, the managers aren't slaves to their benchmark. Read more

Management

Chris Semenuk has worked at TIAA-CREF since 1995 and has managed money in this fund's strategy since 1997. In February 2007, Amy Hatta was named comanager, replacing Yumiko Miura. Hatta joined TIAA-CREF in 2001 as an analyst covering Japan and worked her way up to director of Japan and Asia/Pacific research. Read more

Inside Scoop

This fund closely tethers itself to its MSCI EAFE Index benchmark. Management avoids making big sector or regional bets, leaving the fund's success reliant on management's stock-picking abilities. Read more

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