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Is AIANX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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On the lookout for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? Starting with American Century Inflation Adjustable Bond Institutional (AIANX - Free Report) is one possibility. AIANX has 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

AIANX is a part of the American Century family of funds, a company based out of Kansas City, MO. American Century Inflation Adjustable Bond Institutional made its debut in January of 2003, and since then, AIANX has accumulated about $263.96 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 2.77%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 2.62%, 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. Over the past three years, AIANX's standard deviation comes in at 7.56%, compared to the category average of 15.63%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 6.2% compared to the category average of 13.61%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.85, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, AIANX has a positive alpha of 3.44, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

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, AIANX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.26% compared to the category average of 0.83%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, AIANX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, American Century Inflation Adjustable Bond Institutional ( AIANX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

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 AIANX too 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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