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Is CXHYX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Bond fund category, Delaware National High Yield Municipals A (CXHYX - Free Report) could be a potential option. CXHYX 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

Delaware Investments is based in Philadelphia, PA, and is the manager of CXHYX. The Delaware National High Yield Municipals A made its debut in September of 1986 and CXHYX has managed to accumulate roughly $251.95 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Joseph R. Baxter is the fund's current manager and has held that role since May of 2003.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.89%, 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 7.85%, 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 CXHYX over the past three years is 8.8% compared to the category average of 12.47%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 6.98% compared to the category average of 10.41%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

With a beta of 1.01, this fund is more volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, CXHYX has a positive alpha of 0.18, 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, CXHYX 's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 22.42%. This means that the fund has an average quality of BBB, and focuses on medium quality securities.

However, it is worth noting that 46 % of the bonds in this fund are not ranked, so take the average quality level with a bit of caution.

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, CXHYX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.85% compared to the category average of 0.80%. So, CXHYX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, Delaware National High Yield Municipals A ( CXHYX ) 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 Mutual Fund Bond 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 CXHYX too for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.


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