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Is DHYAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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On the lookout for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? Starting with Dreyfus High Yield Municipals Bond A (DHYAX - Free Report) is one possibility. DHYAX holds 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

BNY Mellon is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of DHYAX. Dreyfus High Yield Municipals Bond A debuted in March of 2007. Since then, DHYAX has accumulated assets of about $110.49 million, according to the most recently available information. Jeffrey Burger is the fund's current manager and has held that role since November of 2011.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of -0.56%, and is in the bottom 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 -4.96%, which places it in the bottom 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 DHYAX over the past three years is 11.41% compared to the category average of 15.17%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 9.17% compared to the category average of 13.17%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

DHYAX carries a beta of 1.06, meaning that the fund is more volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a negative alpha of -0.17, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

However, it is worth noting that 33 % of the bonds in this fund are not ranked, so take the average quality level with a bit of caution.

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, DHYAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.82% compared to the category average of 0.79%. So, DHYAX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, Dreyfus High Yield Municipals Bond A ( DHYAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, Dreyfus High Yield Municipals Bond A ( DHYAX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on DHYAXin the Mutual Fund Bond category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.


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