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Is STYAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Bond fund could think about starting with Wells Fargo Core Plus Bond A (STYAX - Free Report) . STYAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Allspring is based in San Francisco, CA, and is the manager of STYAX. Since Wells Fargo Core Plus Bond A made its debut in July of 1998, STYAX has garnered more than $239.08 million in assets. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. STYAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 0.9% and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of -1.28%, 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. The standard deviation of STYAX over the past three years is 6.74% compared to the category average of 14.59%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 5.55% compared to the category average of 12.75%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

With a beta of 0.87, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, STYAX has a positive alpha of 0.74, 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, STYAX has 57.43% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 29.3% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of AA, and focuses on high quality securities.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, STYAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.86% compared to the category average of 0.77%. STYAX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, Wells Fargo Core Plus Bond A ( STYAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and higher fees, Wells Fargo Core Plus Bond A ( STYAX ) 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 STYAX to its peers as well 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.


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