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Is PRSNX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Diversified Bonds fund category, a potential starting could be T. Rowe Price Global Multi-Sector Bond Investor (PRSNX - Free Report) . PRSNX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We classify PRSNX in the Diversified Bonds category, an area that is rife with potential choices. Diversified Bonds funds offer exposure to a wide variety of fixed income types, stretching across various issuers, credit levels, and maturities. Generally speaking, bond funds here will have sizable exposure to government debt, as well as modest holdings in the corporate bond market too.

History of Fund/Manager

T. Rowe Price is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of PRSNX. The T. Rowe Price Global Multi-Sector Bond Investor made its debut in December of 2008 and PRSNX has managed to accumulate roughly $905.98 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Kenneth Orchard who has been in charge of the fund since January of 2018.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 5.48%, and is 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 5.14%, 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. Over the past three years, PRSNX's standard deviation comes in at 6.98%, compared to the category average of 10.76%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 5.7% compared to the category average of 9.33%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

PRSNX carries a beta of 0.97, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 1.74, 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, PRSNX has 23.36% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 31.15% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 34.71%, giving PRSNX an average quality of BBB. This means that it focuses on medium quality securities.

Expenses

For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, PRSNX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.66% compared to the category average of 0.88%. From a cost perspective, PRSNX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, T. Rowe Price Global Multi-Sector Bond Investor ( PRSNX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Diversified Bonds, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.


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