Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America Fund (TIAA), previously known as TIAA-CREF, was founded in 1918. TIAA Global Asset Management seeks to offer financial services pertaining to investment advice and portfolio management to more than five million customers and at least 16,500 employees. This Andrew Carnegie-led company has investments in more than 50 nations with about 397 offices located in 19 different countries.

TIAA had more than $1 trillion in assets under management as of Dec 31, 2017. A major portion of its assets is allocated to stocks and fixed income securities. In fact, the fund family won the Thomson Reuters Lipper Best Mixed Assets Large Fund Company award for three straight years, including 2018, and the Best Overall Large Fund Company award for six consecutive years, including 2018.

Below we share with you three top-ranked TIAA Mutual Funds. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future. 

TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement (TEMSX - Free Report) seeks returns for the long run through appreciation of capital. TEMSX invests a bulk of its assets in equity securities of emerging market companies. TIAA-CREF Emerging Markets Equity Retirement has three-year annualized returns of 6.4%.

As of April 2018, TEMSX held 75 issues, with 6.48% of its assets invested in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd ADR.

TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Value Retirement (TRLCX - Free Report) invests the majority of its assets in securities of the U.S. based large-cap companies. TRLCX invests in companies with market capitalization identical to those included in the Russell 1000 Value Index. TRLCX invests in securities of companies that are believed to be undervalued. TRLCX may invest a maximum of 20% of its assets in securities of companies that are located in foreign lands. The TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Value Retirement fund has three-year annualized returns of 6.4%.

TRLCX has an expense ratio of 0.65% as compared with the category average of 1.00%.

TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Value Premier (TRCPX - Free Report) seeks a high level of returns primarily through growth of capital. TRCPX invests a huge chunk of its assets in equity securities of large-cap companies, which are expected to be undervalued. The fund invests in companies as defined by the fund's benchmark Russell 1000 Value Index. TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Value Premier has three-year annualized returns of 6.5%.

Richard Cutler is one of the fund managers of TRCPX since 2002.