If you have been looking for Diversified Bonds funds, a place to start could be PIMCO Income I2 (PONPX Quick QuotePONPX - Free Report) . PONPX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

PONPX is one of many Diversified Bonds funds to choose from. Diversified Bonds funds give investors exposure to a variety of fixed income types that span across different issuers, maturities, and credit levels. Usually, these funds will have a good amount of exposure to government debt, in addition to modest holdings in the corporate bond market.

History of Fund/Manager

PIMCO Funds is based in Newport Beach, CA, and is the manager of PONPX. The PIMCO Income I2 made its debut in May of 2008 and PONPX has managed to accumulate roughly $46.87 billion in assets, as of 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 3.24%, and is in the middle 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 4.17%, 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. PONPX's standard deviation over the past three years is 6.45% compared to the category average of 12.99%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 6.7% compared to the category average of 14.27%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.5, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, PONPX has a positive alpha of 3.23, 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, PONPX has 70.36% 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

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, PONPX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.60% compared to the category average of 0.95%. So, PONPX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

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 Income I2 ( PONPX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, PIMCO Income I2 ( PONPX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about PONPX? 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. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.