Objective: A “broadly diversified” fund that seeks capital appreciation through investing in the common stocks of non-U.S. firms.  The fund will primarily focus on developed markets and “well-established, larger companies that appear inexpensive.”

Adviser: FMR.  Fidelity has an amazing array of affiliated companies domiciled in different nations.  The management of this fund involves a half dozen of them.

Manager: George Stairs.  Mr. Stairs joined Fidelity in 2005 after serving around eight years as a portfolio manager for the Putnam International Growth and Income fund. 

Opening date: May 23, 2006.

Minimum investment: $2500 for both regular and tax-sheltered accounts; that minimum drops to $100 for investors willing to establish an automatic investment plan.

Expense ratio: 1.18%, with a 30-day redemption fee of 1.00%.

Comments: I don’t have any clear answer to the “teaser” question that accompanies this profile.  Fidelity boasts of having a “vast global network of research capabilities,” with 85 US based portfolio managers, 66 portfolio managers based elsewhere around the globe, and over 250 research analysts and associates.  Understandably, the vast majority of Fido's fund managers are promoted from within.  By way of example, all of the managers, co-managers, and interim managers listed in the current prospectus for Fidelity’s “Broadly Diversified International” funds seem to have come up through the ranks.

Which makes Mr. Stairs’ selection puzzling.  His most visible role as a money manager was a long stint with a thoroughly undistinguished little fund, Putnam International Growth and Income.  The fund had a good first year or so, during which time Justin Scott was described in Morningstar analyses as the lead manager.  Mr. Stairs appears in coverage as comanager in 1998. The fund was pretty consistently small ($300 – 500 million) and mediocre (a sort of 60-ish percentile performer) through 2004, at which time Mr. Stairs was “moved to a subordinate position” (Morningstar’s phrase) with the fund.  He left not long thereafter.

It is possible to paint a more positive picture by stressing the fund’s risk consciousness and by changing the comparison group (Putnam prefers to report the Lipper comparison rather than the Morningstar one).  It’s not possible to make the argument that this was a very good fund, much less a great one.

Finally, Fidelity makes no compelling case for FIVLX. Their marketing piece claims that “value investing is one of several investment approaches that every long-term investor may want to consider” and “during certain years” international value has out-performed international growth.  They make no claims for any special stock selection strategies, the fund’s expense ratio (1.17%) is nothing to write home about, and they’re sort of inconsistent on whether they’ll invest just in “various developed country equity markets” (the marketing piece) or in emerging markets (the prospectus) as well.

Bottom line: Fidelity watchers put great faith in Fidelity’s “new fund effect.”  At base, Fidelity has huge resources and a substantial stake in the immediate success of their new funds.  As a result, such funds tend to be strong first- and second-year performers.  Given that the manager has not previously distinguished himself and doesn’t have experience in dealing with the volumes of cash that accumulate in Fido funds – their smallest diversified international fund is twice the size of the Putnam fund – it might be prudent to watch and wait.

Company website: http://personal.fidelity.com/products/funds/mfl_frame.shtml?315910489.  The firm’s marketing piece on the fund is available at http://personal.fidelity.com/products/funds/content/browse.shtml.cvsr?refpr=ipmf1.