If you have been looking for Allocation Balanced funds, a place to start could be PIMCO Allocation Asset A (PASAX Quick QuotePASAX - Free Report) . PASAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

PASAX is one of many Zacks' Allocation Balanced mutual funds to pick from. Allocation Balanced funds seek to invest in a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. Investors utilize Allocation Balanced funds as a way to get a good start with diversified mutual funds, as well as for core holdings in a portfolio of funds.

History of Fund/Manager

PIMCO Funds is responsible for PASAX, and the company is based out of Newport Beach, CA. The PIMCO Allocation Asset A made its debut in July of 2002 and PASAX has managed to accumulate roughly $837.40 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Robert Arnott who has been in charge of the fund since April of 2003.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. PASAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 7.87% 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 4.47%, which places it in the middle 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. PASAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 11.47% compared to the category average of 14.61%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 9.79% compared to the category average of 12.41%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.5, the fund 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -0.17. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, PASAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.60% compared to the category average of 0.89%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, PASAX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, PIMCO Allocation Asset A ( PASAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, PIMCO Allocation Asset A ( PASAX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Allocation Balanced 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 PASAX too 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.