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Having trouble finding a Diversified Bonds fund? The Osterweis Strategic Income Fund (OSTIX) is a potential starting point. OSTIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
The world of Diversified Bonds funds is an area filled with options, such as OSTIX. Investors looking for exposure to a variety of fixed income types that stretch across issuers, maturities, and credit levels will find a good fit with Diversified Bonds funds. Typically, these funds have a solid amount of exposure to government debt, as well as modest holdings in the corporate bond market.
History of Fund/Manager
Osterweis is based in San Francisco, CA, and is the manager of OSTIX. The The Osterweis Strategic Income Fund made its debut in August of 2002 and OSTIX has managed to accumulate roughly $5.47 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. OSTIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 4.76% and it sits 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 3.58%, 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. The standard deviation of OSTIX over the past three years is 5.45% compared to the category average of 7.44%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 5.94% compared to the category average of 8.89%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
OSTIX carries a beta of 0.05, 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 3.89, 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, OSTIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.86% compared to the category average of 0.91%. So, OSTIX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.