SUMMARY

We rate Templeton Russia&East European Fund at D-. Negative factors that influence this rating include a high expense structure. The fund invests approximately 82% of its assets in stocks and may be considered for investors seeking a Non-US Equity strategy.

POSITIVES AND RISKS

Total return ranks well below peers over the last three years. The Templeton Russia&East European Fund has returned an annual rate of 11.43% since inception. More recently, the fund has generated a total return of -10.28% in the last five years, -10.00% in the last three years, and -8.65% in the last year. How does that compare to other equity funds? In the last five years, it has outperformed 5% of them. It has also outpaced 7% of its competitors on a three year basis and 11% of them over the last year for the period ending 3/31/2013. On a year to date basis, TRF has returned 1.09%.

Downside risk has been above average. TRF has a draw down risk of -44.95%, which is the largest price decline experienced over the last three years. This fund has a three year standard deviation of 31.3%. This fund has experienced excessive volatility in its monthly performance over the last 36 months. As of 3/31/2013, the fund was trading at a price of $14.79, which is 4.1% below its 52-week high of $15.42 and 1.4% above its 52-week low of $14.59.

High expense ratio hinders performance. On total assets of $102.23 million, TRF maintains a high expense ratio compared to its Non-US Equity peers of 1.59% to cover all operating costs. Brokerage costs for the fund to buy and sell shares are not included in the expense ratio. As TRF is a closed end fund, it has no front end or back end load.

Manager tenure is a net positive but performance record lags managerial peers. Substandard fund managers tend to be replaced, so a long tenure is usually a good sign that a fund is achieving its objectives. The Templeton Russia&East European Fund has been managed by Mark J. Mobius for the last 18 years. Over that period, the manager was able to capture more actual gains in excess of the expected return than just 9% of other fund managers.