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If you have been looking for Investment Grade Bond - Short funds, a place to start could be PGIM Short-Term Corporate Bond Z (PIFZX). PIFZX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We note that PIFZX is an Investment Grade Bond - Short option, which is an area loaded with different options. Investment Grade Bond - Short funds focus on the short end of the curve, generally with bonds that mature in less than two years. Fixed income instruments with this maturity level usually have low duration risk, while they also pay out small yields, at least when compared to their longer-dated peers. Additionally, the focus on investment grade will make funds here safer, but yields will be lower than in the junk bond category.
History of Fund/Manager
PGIM is based in Providence, RI, and is the manager of PIFZX. Since PGIM Short-Term Corporate Bond Z made its debut in December of 1996, PIFZX has garnered more than $5.20 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 2.13%, 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 1.76%, 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. The standard deviation of PIFZX over the past three years is 3.88% compared to the category average of 12.69%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 4.34% compared to the category average of 13.55%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
With a beta of 0.45, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, PIFZX has a positive alpha of 0.96, 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, PIFZX has 23.5% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 74% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of A, and focuses on high quality securities.