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There are plenty of choices in the High Yield - Bonds category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that you should consider investigating is USAA High Income (USHYX). USHYX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
USHYX is part of the High Yield - Bonds section, which is a segment that boasts many possible options. Often referred to as " junk " bonds, High Yield - Bonds funds sit below investment grade, meaning they are at a high default risk compared to their investment grade peers. However, one advantage to junk bonds is that they generally pay out higher yields while posing similar interest rate risks to their investment grade counterparts.
History of Fund/Manager
USHYX is a part of the Victory family of funds, a company based out of Columbus, OH. USAA High Income made its debut in August of 1999, and since then, USHYX has accumulated about $744.63 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 3.77%, and it sits in the middle 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 2.56%, 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 USHYX over the past three years is 8.3% compared to the category average of 12.01%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 10.37% compared to the category average of 13.06%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
This fund has a beta of 0.16, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, USHYX has a positive alpha of 4.04, 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, USHYX 's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 72.6%. This means that the fund has an average quality of BBB, and focuses on medium quality securities.