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Is BHYSX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Bond fund category, BlackRock High Yield Bond Services (BHYSX - Free Report) could be a potential option. BHYSX possesses 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

BHYSX is a part of the BlackRock family of funds, a company based out of New York, NY. BlackRock High Yield Bond Services debuted in November of 1998. Since then, BHYSX has accumulated assets of about $83.07 million, according to the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 1.76%, and is 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 0%, 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. The standard deviation of BHYSX over the past three years is 11.33% compared to the category average of 15.49%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 9.25% compared to the category average of 13.5%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

BHYSX carries a beta of 0.29, 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 2.41, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

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, BHYSX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.87% compared to the category average of 0.98%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, BHYSX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $5,000 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, BlackRock High Yield Bond Services ( BHYSX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about BHYSX? 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. 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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