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Is PONCX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

Mutual Fund Bond fund seekers should consider taking a look at PIMCO Income C (PONCX). PONCX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

PIMCO Funds is responsible for PONCX, and the company is based out of Newport Beach, CA. The PIMCO Income C made its debut in April of 2007 and PONCX has managed to accumulate roughly $4.18 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 0.89%, and is 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 -0.89%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.

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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. Compared to the category average of 16.16%, the standard deviation of PONCX over the past three years is 7.65%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 6.06% compared to the category average of 13.97%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.26, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, PONCX has a positive alpha of 0.18, 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 50.07% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 21.17% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 27.9%, giving PONCX an average quality of A. This means that it focuses on high quality securities.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, PONCX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.65% compared to the category average of 0.83%. So, PONCX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, PIMCO Income C ( PONCX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and higher fees, PIMCO Income C ( PONCX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on PONCXin the Mutual Fund Bond category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.

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