Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is PONPX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Bond funds, a place to start could be PIMCO Income I2 (PONPX - Free Report) . PONPX bears 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

PONPX finds itself in the PIMCO Funds family, based out of Newport Beach, CA. PIMCO Income I2 made its debut in May of 2008, and since then, PONPX has accumulated about $32.94 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 2.17%, and is 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 0.56%, 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. Over the past three years, PONPX's standard deviation comes in at 5.75%, compared to the category average of 13.09%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 6.14% compared to the category average of 14.18%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

PONPX 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 1.62, 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, PONPX 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

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, PONPX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.60% compared to the category average of 0.81%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, PONPX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1 million, investors should also note that 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 I2 ( PONPX ) 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.

Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Bond funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare PONPX to its peers 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 I2 (PONPX) - free report >>

Published in