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Diversified Bonds fund seekers should not consider taking a look at PIMCO Investment Grade Corporate Institutional (PIGIX) at this time. PIGIX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
PIGIX is one of many Diversified Bonds funds to choose from. Diversified Bonds funds give investors exposure to a variety of fixed income types that span across different issuers, maturities, and credit levels. Usually, these funds will have a good amount of exposure to government debt, in addition to modest holdings in the corporate bond market.
History of Fund/Manager
PIMCO Funds is based in Newport Beach, CA, and is the manager of PIGIX. The PIMCO Investment Grade Corporate Institutional made its debut in March of 2000 and PIGIX has managed to accumulate roughly $5.77 billion in assets, as of 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 0.07%, and is in the bottom 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 -1.74%, 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. PIGIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 8.94% compared to the category average of 13.39%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 8.84% compared to the category average of 14.06%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
PIGIX carries a beta of 0.95, 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 1.01, 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, PIGIX has 37.5% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 56% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of A, and focuses on high quality securities.