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Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Bond fund could think about starting with American Funds High Income Municipals Bond F (ABHFX - Free Report) . ABHFX bears 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
American Funds is based in Los Angeles, CA, and is the manager of ABHFX. American Funds High Income Municipals Bond F debuted in September of 1994. Since then, ABHFX has accumulated assets of about $112 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. ABHFX has a 5-year annualized total return of 2.92% and it sits 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 1.44%, 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 ABHFX over the past three years is 7.28% compared to the category average of 13.22%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 5.83% compared to the category average of 11.59%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
ABHFX carries a beta of 0.8, 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 0.98, 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, ABHFX has 33.68% in medium quality bonds, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 21.25%, giving ABHFX an average quality of BBB. This means that it focuses on medium quality securities.
However, it is worth noting that 30 % 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, ABHFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.66% compared to the category average of 0.79%. ABHFX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $250; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, American Funds High Income Municipals Bond F ( ABHFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, American Funds High Income Municipals Bond F ( ABHFX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about ABHFX? 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. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.
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Is ABHFX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Bond fund could think about starting with American Funds High Income Municipals Bond F (ABHFX - Free Report) . ABHFX bears 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
American Funds is based in Los Angeles, CA, and is the manager of ABHFX. American Funds High Income Municipals Bond F debuted in September of 1994. Since then, ABHFX has accumulated assets of about $112 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. ABHFX has a 5-year annualized total return of 2.92% and it sits 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 1.44%, 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 ABHFX over the past three years is 7.28% compared to the category average of 13.22%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 5.83% compared to the category average of 11.59%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
ABHFX carries a beta of 0.8, 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 0.98, 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, ABHFX has 33.68% in medium quality bonds, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 21.25%, giving ABHFX an average quality of BBB. This means that it focuses on medium quality securities.
However, it is worth noting that 30 % 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, ABHFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.66% compared to the category average of 0.79%. ABHFX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $250; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, American Funds High Income Municipals Bond F ( ABHFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, American Funds High Income Municipals Bond F ( ABHFX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about ABHFX? 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. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.