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Is OOSAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Bond category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that may not be worth investigating is Oppenheimer Senior Floating Rate A (OOSAX - Free Report) . OOSAX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

OOSAX finds itself in the Invesco family, based out of Kansas City, MO. Oppenheimer Senior Floating Rate A debuted in September of 1999. Since then, OOSAX has accumulated assets of about $1.59 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 0.86%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 1.03%, 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. OOSAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 8.97% compared to the category average of 15.04%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 7.29% compared to the category average of 13.07%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

OOSAX carries a beta of -0.42, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a negative alpha of -0.02, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

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, OOSAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1% compared to the category average of 0.83%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, OOSAX is actually more expensive than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, Oppenheimer Senior Floating Rate A ( OOSAX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, better downside risk, and higher fees, Oppenheimer Senior Floating Rate A ( OOSAX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about OOSAX? 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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