Yahoo Finance Is PYMAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Bond funds, a place to start could be PIMCO High Yield Municipals Bond A (PYMAX). PYMAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
PYMAX finds itself in the PIMCO Funds family, based out of Newport Beach, CA. Since PIMCO High Yield Municipals Bond A made its debut in August of 2006, PYMAX has garnered more than $734.17 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by David Hammer who has been in charge of the fund since August of 2015.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 1.06%, and is in the top third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of -2.16%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. PYMAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 8.05% compared to the category average of 12.7%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 7.91% compared to the category average of 13.49%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
PYMAX carries a beta of 1.06, meaning that the fund is more volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 0.37, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
Ratings
Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, PYMAX has 28.7% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 35.9% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 34.7%, giving PYMAX an average quality of BBB. This means that it focuses on medium quality securities.
Expenses
Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, PYMAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.85% compared to the category average of 0.78%. So, PYMAX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, PIMCO High Yield Municipals Bond A ( PYMAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and higher fees, PIMCO High Yield Municipals Bond A ( PYMAX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Bond funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare PYMAX to its peers as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.
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