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If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Bond funds, a place to start could be Fidelity Intermediate Municipals Income (FLTMX - Free Report) . FLTMX possesses 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
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FLTMX. Fidelity Intermediate Municipals Income made its debut in April of 1977, and since then, FLTMX has accumulated about $4.76 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 0.71%, 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 -1.27%, 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. Over the past three years, FLTMX's standard deviation comes in at 4.81%, compared to the category average of 14.63%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 4.01% compared to the category average of 12.82%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
With a beta of 0.61, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, FLTMX 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, FLTMX has 49.77% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 41.51% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of A, and 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, FLTMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.35% compared to the category average of 0.79%. So, FLTMX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Intermediate Municipals Income ( FLTMX ) 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.
Your research on the Mutual Fund Bond segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.
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Is FLTMX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Bond funds, a place to start could be Fidelity Intermediate Municipals Income (FLTMX - Free Report) . FLTMX possesses 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
Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FLTMX. Fidelity Intermediate Municipals Income made its debut in April of 1977, and since then, FLTMX has accumulated about $4.76 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 0.71%, 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 -1.27%, 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. Over the past three years, FLTMX's standard deviation comes in at 4.81%, compared to the category average of 14.63%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 4.01% compared to the category average of 12.82%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
With a beta of 0.61, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, FLTMX 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, FLTMX has 49.77% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 41.51% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of A, and 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, FLTMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.35% compared to the category average of 0.79%. So, FLTMX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, Fidelity Intermediate Municipals Income ( FLTMX ) 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.
Your research on the Mutual Fund Bond segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.