Have you been searching for a Government - Bonds: Misc fund? You might want to begin with Schwab Treasury Inflation Protected Security (SWRSX Quick QuoteSWRSX - Free Report) . The fund does not have a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, though we have been able to explore other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.

Objective

SWRSX is one of many Government - Bonds: Misc funds to choose from. In their portfolios, Government - Bonds: Misc funds hold securities issued by the United States' federal government, which are often seen as risk-free assets and described as extremely low-risk from a default perspective. While a mixed approach usually results in a medium yield and risk profile, this fund category focuses across the curve, meaning the yields and interest rate sensitivity will vary.

History of Fund/Manager

Schwab Funds is responsible for SWRSX, and the company is based out of San Francisco, CA. The Schwab Treasury Inflation Protected Security made its debut in March of 2006 and SWRSX has managed to accumulate roughly $2.47 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Matthew Hastings who has been in charge of the fund since March of 2006.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. SWRSX has a 5-year annualized total return of 2.19% 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 -1.74%, 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. SWRSX's standard deviation over the past three years is 7.03% compared to the category average of 7.55%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 6.27% compared to the category average of 6.93%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.53, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, SWRSX has a positive alpha of 1.84, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

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, SWRSX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.05% compared to the category average of 0.57%. So, SWRSX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while 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

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Government - Bonds: Misc, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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.