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Is ACTDX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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On the lookout for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? Starting with Invesco High Yield Municipals Y (ACTDX - Free Report) is one possibility. ACTDX 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

Invesco is based in Kansas City, MO, and is the manager of ACTDX. Since Invesco High Yield Municipals Y made its debut in March of 2006, ACTDX has garnered more than $1.87 billion in assets. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. ACTDX has a 5-year annualized total return of 1.44% and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3 -year annualized total return of -1.58%, which places it in the bottom 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, ACTDX's standard deviation comes in at 10.2%, compared to the category average of 13.28%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 9.83% compared to the category average of 13.84%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

ACTDX carries a beta of 1.2, meaning that the fund is more volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a negative alpha of -0.47, 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, ACTDX has 19.24% in medium quality bonds, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of BBB, and focuses on medium quality securities.

However, it is worth noting that 52 % of the bonds in this fund are not ranked, so take the average quality level with a bit of caution.

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, ACTDX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.24% compared to the category average of 0.94%. So, ACTDX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.

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, even with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, Invesco High Yield Municipals Y ( ACTDX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on ACTDXin 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. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.


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