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Is ACTHX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Bond funds, a place to start could be Invesco High Yield Municipals A (ACTHX - Free Report) . ACTHX holds 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

Invesco is based in Kansas City, MO, and is the manager of ACTHX. Invesco High Yield Municipals A made its debut in January of 1986, and since then, ACTHX has accumulated about $6.24 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.5%, and is in the top 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 4.43%, 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 ACTHX over the past three years is 8.04% compared to the category average of 13.1%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 6.42% compared to the category average of 11.47%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

ACTHX carries a beta of 0.88, 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 0.24, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

Ratings

However, it is worth noting that 40 % of the bonds in this fund are not ranked, so take the average quality level with a bit of caution.

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, ACTHX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.87% compared to the category average of 0.79%. So, ACTHX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.

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, Invesco High Yield Municipals A ( ACTHX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and higher fees, Invesco High Yield Municipals A ( ACTHX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on ACTHXin the Mutual Fund Bond category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well 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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