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Is BHYSX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Bond funds, consider BlackRock High Yield Bond Services (BHYSX - Free Report) as a possibility. BHYSX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

BlackRock is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of BHYSX. Since BlackRock High Yield Bond Services made its debut in November of 1998, BHYSX has garnered more than $86.94 million in assets. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

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 2.95%, and is in the top 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 4.69%, 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 BHYSX over the past three years is 8.73% compared to the category average of 14.13%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 9.45% compared to the category average of 14.1%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.37, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, BHYSX has a positive alpha of 2.04, 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, BHYSX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.86% compared to the category average of 0.97%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, BHYSX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $5,000, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, BlackRock High Yield Bond Services ( BHYSX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, BlackRock High Yield Bond Services ( BHYSX ) 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 BHYSX 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.


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