Fund Evaluator:

Morningstar International Equity Overview

Morningstar International Equity (MSTFX) is an actively managed International Equity Foreign Large Blend fund. Morningstar launched the fund in 2018.

The investment seeks long-term capital appreciation. The fund will normally invest at least 80% of its assets in equity securities. Under normal circumstances, it will invest approximately 80-100% of its assets in securities of issuers domiciled outside of the United States. The fund may invest in developed and emerging markets and will typically invest in a minimum of 10 countries. It may also invest in derivatives, including futures and forward foreign currency contracts, for risk management purposes or as part of its investment strategies.

About Morningstar International Equity (MSTFX)

There are 12 members of the management team with an average tenure of 5.31 years: Monika Shrestha (2018), Anthony Coniaris (2025), Andrew West (2018), Eric Liu (2023), Michael Budzinski (2025), Vito D. Gala (2025), David Herro (2018), Ferrill Roll (2018), Rohit Chopra (2018), James Donald (2018), Ganesh Ramachandran (2020), Douglas McGraw (2023). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: Morningstar Global Markets xUS NR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Morningstar International Equity has 509 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 13.0% 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.

Morningstar International Equity is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the International Equity fund group. Morningstar International Equity has 96.7% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 1.7%. There is 96.7% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.1% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Morningstar International Equity has 1.1% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $1 billion in total assets, which is below the $2 billion average for the Foreign Large Blend 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.

MSTFX 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 Morningstar International Equity expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Foreign Large Blend category. Morningstar International Equity has an expense ratio of 1.00%, which is 6% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a D. 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. A portfolio turnover rate cannot be currently calculated for Morningstar International Equity. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 62% for the Foreign Large Blend category.

Recently, in the month of August 2026, Morningstar International Equity returned 2.7%, which earned it a grade of B, as the Foreign Large Blend category had an average return of 2.0%. 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.

Morningstar International Equity has a trailing yield of 2.01%, which is below the 2.13% category average. The fund normally distributes its income 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.

Morningstar International Equity Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 16.1%, 2.1 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of B. The fund has returned 25.3% over the past year (grade of B), 17.1% over the past three years (grade of D) and 8.0% per year over the past five years (grade of D).

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