If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Equity Report fund category, a potential starting could be American Beacon Sound Point Floating Rate Institutional (SPFLX). SPFLX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
American Beacon is based in Irving, TX, and is the manager of SPFLX. American Beacon Sound Point Floating Rate Institutional debuted in December of 2015. Since then, SPFLX has accumulated assets of about $188.30 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 1.97%, and it sits 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 0.8%, 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. Over the past three years, SPFLX's standard deviation comes in at 10.47%, compared to the category average of 13.81%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 8.2% compared to the category average of 12.23%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.13, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. With a positive alpha of 1.24, managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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, SPFLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.82% compared to the category average of 0.78%. So, SPFLX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $250,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.