Fund Evaluator:

Empower Core Strategies US Eq Inv Overview

Empower Core Strategies US Eq Inv (MXETX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Large Blend fund. Empower Funds launched the fund in 2020.

The investment seeks long-term growth of capital. 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 of U.S. companies. The fund may have exposure to U.S. stocks across any market capitalization and style and the fund's exposure will vary from time to time across sectors. Equity securities include common stock and other investment instruments such as exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that track the return of a broad-based U.S. securities index.

About Empower Core Strategies US Eq Inv (MXETX)

There are 12 members of the management team with an average tenure of 6.92 years: Darren Jaroch (2018), Jeffrey Schwartz (2018), Nicola Dowdall (2018), Michael Lynch (2018), Peter Leonard (2018), Joseph Wilson (2020), Lauren DeMore (2019), Holly Morris (2020), Larry Lee (2020), Robert Maloney (2023), Joseph Gatz (2018), Giri Devulapally (2018). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: Russell 3000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Empower Core Strategies US Eq Inv has 632 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 24.1% 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 Core Strategies US Eq Inv is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Empower Core Strategies US Eq Inv has 3.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 96.2%. There is 3.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% 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). Empower Core Strategies US Eq Inv has 0.8% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $786 million in total assets, which is below the $6 billion average for the 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.

MXETX 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 Core Strategies US Eq Inv expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Large Blend category. Empower Core Strategies US Eq Inv has an expense ratio of 0.90%, which is 11% 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 Core Strategies US Eq Inv has a portfolio turnover rate of 28%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 48% for the Large Blend category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Empower Core Strategies US Eq Inv returned -0.4%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Large Blend category had an average return of 0.4%. 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 Core Strategies US Eq Inv has a trailing yield of 0.62%, which is above the 0.56% 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 Core Strategies US Eq Inv Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 11.6%, 2.3 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 20.2% over the past year (grade of B), 17.5% over the past three years (grade of C) and 11.5% per year over the past five years (grade of C).

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