Having trouble finding an Index fund? Artisan High Income Fund Investor Shares (ARTFX Quick QuoteARTFX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. ARTFX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Artisan Funds is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of ARTFX. The Artisan High Income Fund Investor Shares made its debut in March of 2014 and ARTFX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.15 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Bryan Krug, has been in charge of the fund since March of 2014.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. ARTFX has a 5-year annualized total return of 7.98% and is in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 6.37%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.

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. Compared to the category average of 13.06%, the standard deviation of ARTFX over the past three years is 10.21%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 8.39% compared to the category average of 11.03%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. ARTFX has a 5-year beta of 0.46, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. ARTFX's 5-year performance has produced a positive alpha of 5.62, which means managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, ARTFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.96% compared to the category average of 0.81%. So, ARTFX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Artisan High Income Fund Investor Shares ( ARTFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Index area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into ARTFX too for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.