Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is PIMIX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Bond fund category, PIMCO Income Institutional (PIMIX - Free Report) could be a potential option. PIMIX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

PIMCO Funds is based in Newport Beach, CA, and is the manager of PIMIX. PIMCO Income Institutional made its debut in April of 2007, and since then, PIMIX has accumulated about $73.62 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. 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 2.5%, and it sits in the middle 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 1.85%, which places it in the top 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. PIMIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 5.75% compared to the category average of 13.26%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 6.06% compared to the category average of 14.14%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

PIMIX carries a beta of 0.46, 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 1.54, 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, PIMIX has 53.8% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while its junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 27.1%. This means that the fund has an average quality of A, and focuses on high quality securities.

Expenses

Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, PIMIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.50% compared to the category average of 0.82%. PIMIX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1 million, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

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

Bottom Line

Overall, PIMCO Income Institutional ( PIMIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on PIMIXin the Mutual Fund Bond category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


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


PIMCO Income Inst (PIMIX) - free report >>

Published in