By The Skilled Investor, November 25, 2007, 9:53 am
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The diversified investment fund strategy of American Funds’ EuroPacific Growth Fund

According to American Funds’ Annual Report for the EuroPacific Growth Fund, the fund “seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in the securities of companies based in Europe and the Pacific Basin.” American Fund’s 497 filing on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR system said that the fund’s investment objective is to “invest at least 80% of its assets in securities of issuers domiciled in Europe and the Pacific Basin.

“Various factors will be considered when determining whether a country is part of Europe, including whether a country is part of the MSCI European indices. A country will be considered part of the Pacific Basin if any of its borders touch the Pacific Ocean. Although the United States is considered part of the Pacific Basin, the fund will normally not purchase equity securities of issuers domiciled in the United States.

The Fund Authority Score for the American Funds - EuroPacific Growth Fund - Class A Shares (AEPGX)

Fund Authority Scores rate mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the most important economic factors that influence individual investors’ net long term diversified investment fund performance. The Skilled Investor developed the Fund Authority Score system to provide individual investors with concise and objective summaries of mutual funds and ETFs for comparisons within investment asset classes.

For a directory of the Fund Authority Score reports of other mutual funds and ETFs, go here. When you go to this Fund Authority Score directory, you can easily find a list of all fund reports at the bottom of each article for that particular investment asset class. For more information about how a Fund Authority Score is developed for each mutual fund or ETF, go here.

The table below presents the Fund Authority Score and other information for American Funds’ EuroPacific Growth Fund - Class A Shares.

Using an integer scale ranging from -10 to +10, Fund Authority Scores measure five factors:

1) annualized management and investment sales expenses (40% weighting),
2) annual trading costs implied by investment fund portfolio turnover (30% weighting),
3) inferior and superior historical performance (20% weighting),
4) minimum fund maturity (5% weighting), and
5) minimum fund size for operating efficiency (5% weighting).

Fund Authority Summary for the American Funds - EuroPacific Growth Fund - Class A Shares (AEPGX)

Fund Authority Summary American Funds - EuroPacific Growth Fund - Class A Shares Fund Authority Score
     
FUND AUTHORITY SCORE (scale of -10 to +10)   2
     
FUND AUTHORITY SCORING COMPONENTS    
A) Management expenses & sales loads (-4 to +4)    
-- Annual expense ratio with 12b-1 fees 0.75%  
-- Front-end sales load with 5 year amortization 1.15%  
----- Total annual direct costs 1.90% -3
B) Fund portfolio transactions costs (-3 to +3)    
-- Annual turnover as a trading cost proxy 27.0% 2
C) Penalize very inferior historical performance and credit average and superior historical performance (-2 to +2)    
-- Total of the 3 year Morningstar + Lipper ratings 8 2
D) Is this fund sufficiently mature? (0 or +1)   1
E) Very small fund efficiency penalty (-1 or 0)   0
     
INVESTMENT FUND OVERVIEW    
-- Type of fund (mutual fund vs. ETF) mutual fund  
-- Management (active vs. passive) actively managed fund  
-- Total net assets $126.2 Billion  
-- Type of investment portfolio securities stocks - equities  
-- Geographic focus Europe and Pacific  
-- Market capitalization of portfolio securities large-cap  
-- Strategy skew (value; growth; neither) growth  
-- Target performance benchmark index MSCI All Country World Index ex-USA  
-- Year of inception 1984  
-- Trading symbol AEPGX  
-- Share class evaluated Class A Shares  
-- Minimum initial deposit for individual investor $250  
     
TOP 10 INVESTMENT SECURITIES HOLDINGS Roche Holding Ltd - Switzerland  
  Bayer - Germany  
  Novo-Nordisk A S - Denmark  
  Banco Santander - Spain  
  America Mobile ADR - Mexico  
  Hon Hai Precision Industry - Taiwan  
  Nestle - Switzerland  
  Samsung Electronics - South Korea  
  Kookmin Bank - South Korea  
  AXA - France  
----- Top 10 Investment Portfolio Holdings (%)   18.65%
     
-- Fund family website www.americanfunds.com  
-- Customer service telephone number 800-421-0180  
SEC EDGAR filings and/or fund website accessed 23 November 2007  

NOTES:

– Most mutual funds and ETFs change their fees and trading strategies relatively little over time. Because investment expenses, trading/turnover costs, fund maturity, and operating efficiency account for 80% of the Fund Authority Score rating system, Fund Authority Scores tend to remain relatively stable over time for such consistent investment funds.

– The date in the table above indicates when fund information was accessed from SEC EDGAR filings and/or the fund company website. Normally, data used to develop Fund Authority Scores rely upon reporting periods ending the previous calendar quarter or half year.

– Unless otherwise stated, there are no business arrangements of any kind between The Skilled Investor and any financial product, service, or company that may be discussed in our publication’s articles.

– Fund Authority Scores are developed on a fund by fund basis. Just because a mutual fund or ETF has a high Fund Authority Score does not mean that other funds from that fund family do, as well. On your own, always be careful to check current management expenses, sales loads, portfolio turnover, fund maturity, fund size, fund performance, and other current factors before investing in any diversified investment fund.

– If you do not need and/or are unwilling to pay the direct and indirect costs of an investment counselor, stock broker, or other financial advisory intermediary, you should note that many mutual funds can be purchased directly from diversified investment fund families by accessing their websites or by calling their customer service telephone numbers. Similarly many ETFs can be purchased with lower transactions fees through discount brokers. (See these articles: Payment of Investment Advisors, Financial Planners, and Investment Counselors)

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    1. Comment by swede

      The sub prime problem isn’t a small problem. The banks have given away all of our money. The only one who can maybe save our pension plans and pension funds is the Fed. As for the banks they are broke.
      They have already told the government that the sub prime isn’t their problem, its the FEDS. Its the pension funds that are going to be hurt. The only alternative left is for the FED. to bail out the banks.
      Remember it was the FED. who set the policy of giving away money and ecouraged the banks to do the same.

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