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Is PFIIX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Bond funds, a place to start could be PIMCO Floating Income Fund Institutional (PFIIX - Free Report) . PFIIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

PIMCO Funds is based in Newport Beach, CA, and is the manager of PFIIX. The PIMCO Floating Income Fund Institutional made its debut in July of 2004 and PFIIX has managed to accumulate roughly $3.63 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 2.58%, and it sits in the top 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 1.57%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.

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 4.93% compared to the category average of 12.77%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 3.88% compared to the category average of 11.17%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

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, PFIIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.51% compared to the category average of 0.75%. 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.

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, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Bond 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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