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If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Bond funds, you might want to consider passing on by USAA High Income (USHYX - Free Report) as a possibility. USHYX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
USHYX finds itself in the Victory family, based out of Columbus, OH. Since USAA High Income made its debut in August of 1999, USHYX has garnered more than $748.15 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. USHYX has a 5-year annualized total return of 2.1% and is 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 5.26%, 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. Compared to the category average of 13.55%, the standard deviation of USHYX over the past three years is 8.96%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 10.42% compared to the category average of 13.58%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
USHYX carries a beta of 0.3, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 1.31, 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, USHYX 's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 85.6%. This means that the fund has an average quality of BBB, and focuses on medium quality securities.
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, USHYX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.77% compared to the category average of 0.97%. So, USHYX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $3,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, USAA High Income ( USHYX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, USAA High Income ( USHYX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Bond, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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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Is USHYX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Bond funds, you might want to consider passing on by USAA High Income (USHYX - Free Report) as a possibility. USHYX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
USHYX finds itself in the Victory family, based out of Columbus, OH. Since USAA High Income made its debut in August of 1999, USHYX has garnered more than $748.15 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. USHYX has a 5-year annualized total return of 2.1% and is 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 5.26%, 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. Compared to the category average of 13.55%, the standard deviation of USHYX over the past three years is 8.96%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 10.42% compared to the category average of 13.58%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
USHYX carries a beta of 0.3, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 1.31, 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, USHYX 's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 85.6%. This means that the fund has an average quality of BBB, and focuses on medium quality securities.
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, USHYX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.77% compared to the category average of 0.97%. So, USHYX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $3,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.
Bottom Line
Overall, USAA High Income ( USHYX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, USAA High Income ( USHYX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Bond, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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.