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Any investors hoping to find a Diversified Bonds fund could think about starting with PIMCO Income C (PONCX). PONCX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We classify PONCX in the Diversified Bonds category, an area that is rife with potential choices. Diversified Bonds funds offer exposure to a wide variety of fixed income types, stretching across various issuers, credit levels, and maturities. Generally speaking, bond funds here will have sizable exposure to government debt, as well as modest holdings in the corporate bond market too.
History of Fund/Manager
PIMCO Funds is based in Newport Beach, CA, and is the manager of PONCX. Since PIMCO Income C made its debut in April of 2007, PONCX has garnered more than $3.72 billion in assets. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 2.18%, and it sits in the middle 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 3.09%, 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, PONCX's standard deviation comes in at 6.46%, compared to the category average of 12.99%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 6.71% compared to the category average of 14.27%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
PONCX carries a beta of 0.49, 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 2.17, 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, PONCX has 70.36% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher. The fund has an average quality of AA, and focuses on high quality securities.