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Is SWRSX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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Any investors who are searching for Mutual Fund Bond funds should take a look at Schwab Treasury Inflation Protected Security (SWRSX - 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

Schwab Funds is responsible for SWRSX, and the company is based out of San Francisco, CA. Schwab Treasury Inflation Protected Security made its debut in March of 2006, and since then, SWRSX has accumulated about $2.55 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Matthew Hastings, has been in charge of the fund since March of 2006.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 2.56%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 0.28%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.

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 SWRSX over the past three years is 6.99% compared to the category average of 7.79%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 6% compared to the category average of 5.92%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.74, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, SWRSX has a positive alpha of 1.72, 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, SWRSX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.05% compared to the category average of 0.84%. From a cost perspective, SWRSX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.

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 SWRSX too 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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