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Is FLTMX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Bond fund category, Fidelity Intermediate Municipals Income (FLTMX - Free Report) could be a potential option. FLTMX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FLTMX. Fidelity Intermediate Municipals Income made its debut in April of 1977, and since then, FLTMX has accumulated about $4.52 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 has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.32%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of -1.58%, 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, FLTMX's standard deviation comes in at 4.89%, compared to the category average of 12.83%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 4.67% compared to the category average of 13.62%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

FLTMX carries a beta of 0.7, 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 0.12, 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, FLTMX has 53.31% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 39.86% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. 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, FLTMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.35% compared to the category average of 0.78%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FLTMX 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

Overall, Fidelity Intermediate Municipals Income ( FLTMX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Intermediate Municipals Income ( FLTMX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about FLTMX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.


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