Fund Evaluator:

American Century Emerging Mkts Dbt R5 Overview

American Century Emerging Mkts Dbt R5 (AEDJX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Emerging Markets Bond fund. American Century Investments launched the fund in 2014.

The investment seeks total return. Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in fixed income instruments of issuers that are economically tied to emerging markets. It will invest in debt instruments issued by foreign governments and corporations. The fund may invest without limitation in both investment grade and high-yield ("junk bonds") debt securities. It also invests in derivative instruments. The fund may use foreign currency exchange contracts to shift its investment exposure from one currency into another, for hedging purposes or to enhance returns.

About American Century Emerging Mkts Dbt R5 (AEDJX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 2.41 years: Lynn Chen (2024), Rajat Ahuja (2023), Jason Greenblath (2024). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: JPM EMBI Global Diversified TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. American Century Emerging Mkts Dbt R5 has 174 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 31.5% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

American Century Emerging Mkts Dbt R5 is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. American Century Emerging Mkts Dbt R5 has 81.4% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 97.0% (15.6% domestic bond, 81.4% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). American Century Emerging Mkts Dbt R5 has 3.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $11 million in total assets, which is below the $325 million average for the Emerging Markets Bond category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

AEDJX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The American Century Emerging Mkts Dbt R5 expense ratio is above average compared to funds in the Emerging Markets Bond category. American Century Emerging Mkts Dbt R5 has an expense ratio of 0.71%, which is 30% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a B. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. American Century Emerging Mkts Dbt R5 has a portfolio turnover rate of 105%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 83% for the Emerging Markets Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, American Century Emerging Mkts Dbt R5 returned -1.5%, which earned it a grade of F, as the Emerging Markets Bond category had an average return of -0.9%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

American Century Emerging Mkts Dbt R5 has a trailing yield of 6.52%, which is above the 5.99% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

American Century Emerging Mkts Dbt R5 Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 1.5%, 1.0 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 8.5% over the past year (grade of C), 7.0% over the past three years (grade of F) and 2.2% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 3.5% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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