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Is PONCX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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On the lookout for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? Starting with PIMCO Income C (PONCX - Free Report) is one possibility. PONCX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

PIMCO Funds is responsible for PONCX, and the company is based out of Newport Beach, CA. PIMCO Income C made its debut in April of 2007, and since then, PONCX has accumulated about $4.75 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. PONCX has a 5-year annualized total return of 0.82% 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 -0.1%, which places it in the middle 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. Over the past three years, PONCX's standard deviation comes in at 6.77%, compared to the category average of 14.59%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 5.36% compared to the category average of 12.88%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.34, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, PONCX has a positive alpha of 0.16, 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, PONCX has 42.28% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 23.74% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 33.47%, giving PONCX an average quality of A. This means that it focuses on high quality securities.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, PONCX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.65% compared to the category average of 0.83%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, PONCX is actually more expensive than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, PIMCO Income C ( PONCX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and higher 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 PONCX too for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.


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