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Is PFIIX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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Having trouble finding a Mutual Fund Bond fund? PIMCO Floating Income Fund Institutional (PFIIX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. PFIIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

PIMCO Funds is based in Newport Beach, CA, and is the manager of PFIIX. Since PIMCO Floating Income Fund Institutional made its debut in July of 2004, PFIIX has garnered more than $2.96 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. PFIIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 2.9% and is in the top third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 1.56%, which places it in the top 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. Compared to the category average of 12.18%, the standard deviation of PFIIX over the past three years is 4.17%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 4.79% compared to the category average of 12.81%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

PFIIX carries a beta of 0.17, 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 1.57, 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, PFIIX has 62.4% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 21.6% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of AA, and focuses on high quality securities.

Expenses

Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, PFIIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.50% compared to the category average of 0.89%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, PFIIX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1 million; 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, PIMCO Floating Income Fund Institutional ( PFIIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, PIMCO Floating Income Fund Institutional ( PFIIX ) 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 PFIIX too 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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