Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is OIBAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Any investors who are searching for Mutual Fund Bond funds should take a look at Oppenheimer International Bond A (OIBAX - Free Report) . The fund does not have a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, though we have been able to explore other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.

History of Fund/Manager

OIBAX finds itself in the Invesco family, based out of Kansas City, MO. Since Oppenheimer International Bond A made its debut in June of 1995, OIBAX has garnered more than $448.66 million in assets. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of -4.19%, and it sits in the bottom 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 -7.82%, 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. Compared to the category average of 14.91%, the standard deviation of OIBAX over the past three years is 13.89%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 11.79% compared to the category average of 13.05%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

OIBAX carries a beta of 0.36, 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 -3.25, 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, OIBAX has 30.18% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 20.05% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 45.87%, giving OIBAX an average quality of BBB. This means that it focuses on medium quality securities.

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, OIBAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.01% compared to the category average of 0.89%. OIBAX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

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

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Bond area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into OIBAX too 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.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


INVESCO INTL BOND A (OIBAX) - free report >>

Published in