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Is DINAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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If you're looking for a Mutual Fund Bond fund category, then a potential option is Morgan Stanley Global Fixed Income Opportunity A (DINAX - Free Report) . DINAX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

DINAX finds itself in the MorgStanley family, based out of New York, NY. Morgan Stanley Global Fixed Income Opportunity A debuted in August of 1997. Since then, DINAX has accumulated assets of about $104.51 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. DINAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 4.2% and is in the middle 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 4.64%, 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. The standard deviation of DINAX over the past three years is 6.18% compared to the category average of 13.35%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 4.91% compared to the category average of 11.25%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

DINAX carries a beta of 0.72, 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 1.75, 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, DINAX has 37.07% in medium quality bonds, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 27.58%, giving DINAX an average quality of BBB. This means that it focuses on medium quality securities.

However, it is worth noting that 28 % of the bonds in this fund are not ranked, so take the average quality level with a bit of caution.

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, DINAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.80% compared to the category average of 0.85%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, DINAX 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 $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, Morgan Stanley Global Fixed Income Opportunity A ( DINAX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about DINAX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.


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