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Is PFIIX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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On the lookout for a Government Mortgage - Short fund? Starting with PIMCO Floating Income Fund Institutional (PFIIX - Free Report) is one possibility. PFIIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

PFIIX is part of the Government Mortgage - Short section, and this segment boasts an array of possible selections. A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is a type of asset-backed security that packages mortgages together and then sells off the pooled securities. Government Mortgage - Short funds focus on this market; this category gives funds here a lower yield but lower interest rate sensitivity, and focuses on MBS that usually have less than three years until maturity.

History of Fund/Manager

PIMCO Funds is based in Newport Beach, CA, and is the manager of PFIIX. PIMCO Floating Income Fund Institutional debuted in July of 2004. Since then, PFIIX has accumulated assets of about $4.08 billion, according to the most recently available information. 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 3.64%, and it sits 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 3.72%, 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. The standard deviation of PFIIX over the past three years is 4.42% compared to the category average of 12.42%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 4.88% compared to the category average of 13.26%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

PFIIX carries a beta of 0.2, 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 2.39, 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, PFIIX has 70.1% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher. The fund has an average quality of AA, 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, PFIIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.50% compared to the category average of 0.89%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, PFIIX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1 million, 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

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

For additional information on the Government Mortgage - Short area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into PFIIX too 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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