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Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Bond fund might consider looking past Fidelity Short-Term Bond (FSHBX - Free Report) . FSHBX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
FSHBX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Short-Term Bond made its debut in September of 1986, FSHBX has garnered more than $1.78 billion in assets. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.43%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of -0.42%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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, FSHBX's standard deviation comes in at 1.87%, compared to the category average of 12.58%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 1.94% compared to the category average of 13.22%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
FSHBX carries a beta of 0.28, 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 0.15, 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, FSHBX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.45% compared to the category average of 0.90%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FSHBX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Short-Term Bond ( FSHBX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a somewhat weak 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 FSHBX too 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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Is FSHBX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Bond fund might consider looking past Fidelity Short-Term Bond (FSHBX - Free Report) . FSHBX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
FSHBX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity Short-Term Bond made its debut in September of 1986, FSHBX has garnered more than $1.78 billion in assets. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.43%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of -0.42%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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, FSHBX's standard deviation comes in at 1.87%, compared to the category average of 12.58%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 1.94% compared to the category average of 13.22%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
FSHBX carries a beta of 0.28, 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 0.15, 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, FSHBX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.45% compared to the category average of 0.90%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, FSHBX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Short-Term Bond ( FSHBX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a somewhat weak 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 FSHBX too 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.