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Is AGDCX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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On the lookout for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? Starting with AB High Income Fund C (AGDCX - Free Report) is one possibility. AGDCX holds 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

AllianceBernstein is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of AGDCX. Since AB High Income Fund C made its debut in February of 1994, AGDCX has garnered more than $164.54 million in assets. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 2.26%, and is 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 0.53%, which places it in the middle 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 13.55%, the standard deviation of AGDCX over the past three years is 8.22%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 11.45% compared to the category average of 14.35%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

AGDCX carries a beta of 0.17, 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 1.93, 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, AGDCX 's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 70.55%. This means that the fund has an average quality of BBB, and focuses on medium 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, AGDCX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.66% compared to the category average of 0.96%. AGDCX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to 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, AB High Income Fund C ( AGDCX ) 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 AGDCXin 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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