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There are plenty of choices in the Investment Grade Bond - Intermediate category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is AB Income Advisor (ACGYX - Free Report) . ACGYX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We classify ACGYX in the Investment Grade Bond - Intermediate category, an area rife with potential choices. Investment Grade Bond - Intermediate funds target the middle part of the curve, typically by investing in bonds that mature in more than three years but less than 15 years. At these maturity levels, fixed income instruments have medium duration risk--but they compensate investors with a respectable yield compared to shorter maturity options. Finally, a focus on investment grade ensures that these funds are safer, but yields will be lower than in the junk bond category.
History of Fund/Manager
ACGYX is a part of the AllianceBernstein family of funds, a company based out of New York, NY. The AB Income Advisor made its debut in April of 2016 and ACGYX has managed to accumulate roughly $2.34 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of -0.2%, 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 -3.96%, 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, ACGYX's standard deviation comes in at 8.36%, compared to the category average of 12.48%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 8.21% compared to the category average of 13.07%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
This fund has a beta of 0.96, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, ACGYX has a positive alpha of 0.36, 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, ACGYX has 77.3% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 20.8% 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, ACGYX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.55% compared to the category average of 0.88%. ACGYX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, AB Income Advisor ( ACGYX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, AB Income Advisor ( ACGYX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Investment Grade Bond - Intermediate funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare ACGYX to its peers as well 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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Is ACGYX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Investment Grade Bond - Intermediate category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is AB Income Advisor (ACGYX - Free Report) . ACGYX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We classify ACGYX in the Investment Grade Bond - Intermediate category, an area rife with potential choices. Investment Grade Bond - Intermediate funds target the middle part of the curve, typically by investing in bonds that mature in more than three years but less than 15 years. At these maturity levels, fixed income instruments have medium duration risk--but they compensate investors with a respectable yield compared to shorter maturity options. Finally, a focus on investment grade ensures that these funds are safer, but yields will be lower than in the junk bond category.
History of Fund/Manager
ACGYX is a part of the AllianceBernstein family of funds, a company based out of New York, NY. The AB Income Advisor made its debut in April of 2016 and ACGYX has managed to accumulate roughly $2.34 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of -0.2%, 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 -3.96%, 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, ACGYX's standard deviation comes in at 8.36%, compared to the category average of 12.48%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 8.21% compared to the category average of 13.07%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
This fund has a beta of 0.96, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, ACGYX has a positive alpha of 0.36, 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, ACGYX has 77.3% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 20.8% 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, ACGYX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.55% compared to the category average of 0.88%. ACGYX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, AB Income Advisor ( ACGYX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, AB Income Advisor ( ACGYX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Investment Grade Bond - Intermediate funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare ACGYX to its peers as well 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.