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Is AGDCX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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Mutual Fund Bond fund seekers may want to consider taking a look at AB High Income Fund C (AGDCX - Free Report) . AGDCX has 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

AGDCX finds itself in the AllianceBernstein family, based out of New York, NY. The AB High Income Fund C made its debut in February of 1994 and AGDCX has managed to accumulate roughly $244 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 0.67%, and is in the bottom third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 0.84%, which places it in the bottom 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. Over the past three years, AGDCX's standard deviation comes in at 12.58%, compared to the category average of 14.13%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 10.1% compared to the category average of 12.53%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.31, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, AGDCX has a positive alpha of 0.02, 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, AGDCX 's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 75.58%. This means that the fund has an average quality of BBB, and focuses on medium quality securities.

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, AGDCX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.58% compared to the category average of 0.99%. AGDCX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, AB High Income Fund C ( AGDCX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about AGDCX? 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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