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Is HSNAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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On the lookout for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? Starting with Hartford Strategic Income A (HSNAX - Free Report) is one possibility. HSNAX carries 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

Hartford is responsible for HSNAX, and the company is based out of Woodbury, MN. The Hartford Strategic Income A made its debut in May of 2007 and HSNAX has managed to accumulate roughly $323.04 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 2.96%, 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 2.51%, 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 HSNAX over the past three years is 8.27% compared to the category average of 13.85%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 6.67% compared to the category average of 12.23%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.66, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, HSNAX has a positive alpha of 1.93, 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, HSNAX has 23.72% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while its junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 54.81%. This means that the fund has an average quality of BBB, and focuses on medium quality securities.

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, HSNAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.91% compared to the category average of 0.83%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, HSNAX is actually more expensive than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, Hartford Strategic Income A ( HSNAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and higher fees, Hartford Strategic Income A ( HSNAX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about HSNAX? 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. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.


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