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Is PONCX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Bond category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is PIMCO Income C (PONCX - Free Report) . PONCX has 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 PONCX. PIMCO Income C debuted in April of 2007. Since then, PONCX has accumulated assets of about $3.96 billion, according to the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. PONCX has a 5-year annualized total return of 1.45% and is 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 0.01%, 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. Compared to the category average of 13.11%, the standard deviation of PONCX over the past three years is 5.67%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 6.09% compared to the category average of 14.16%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

PONCX carries a beta of 0.48, 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 0.66, 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, PONCX 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

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, PONCX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.65% compared to the category average of 0.81%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, PONCX is actually more expensive than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.

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

Bottom Line

Overall, PIMCO Income C ( PONCX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and higher fees, PIMCO Income C ( PONCX ) looks like a good potential 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. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.


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