Fund Evaluator:

Empower Emerging Markets Equity Inv Overview

Empower Emerging Markets Equity Inv (MXEOX) is an actively managed International Equity Diversified Emerging Mkts fund. Empower Funds launched the fund in 2018.

The investment seeks long-term capital appreciation. The fund will, under normal circumstances, invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities issued by emerging markets companies. The fund advisor may consider classifications by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the United Nations (and its agencies) or the MSCI Emerging Markets Index in determining whether a country is emerging or developed.

About Empower Emerging Markets Equity Inv (MXEOX)

There are 6 members of the management team with an average tenure of 4.43 years: Alex Lai (2024), Kurt Livermore (2024), Peter Kashanek (2024), Ciprian Marin (2018), Basak Yavuz (2023), Paul Moghtader (2018). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: MSCI EM NR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Empower Emerging Markets Equity Inv has 326 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 36.8% 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.

Empower Emerging Markets Equity Inv is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the International Equity fund group. Empower Emerging Markets Equity Inv has 98.8% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.8%. There is 98.5% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.3% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.3% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Empower Emerging Markets Equity Inv has 0.4% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $1 billion in total assets, which is above the $1 billion average for the Diversified Emerging Mkts 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.

MXEOX 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 Empower Emerging Markets Equity Inv expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Diversified Emerging Mkts category. Empower Emerging Markets Equity Inv has an expense ratio of 1.26%, which is 9% 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. Empower Emerging Markets Equity Inv has a portfolio turnover rate of 65%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 68% for the Diversified Emerging Mkts category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, Empower Emerging Markets Equity Inv returned 0.5%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Diversified Emerging Mkts category had an average return of 0.2%. 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.

Empower Emerging Markets Equity Inv has a trailing yield of 0.78%, which is below the 1.58% 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.

Empower Emerging Markets Equity Inv Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 29.0%, 3.3 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of B. The fund has returned 48.6% over the past year (grade of B), 24.9% over the past three years (grade of B) and 7.5% per year over the past five years (grade of B).

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