Yahoo Finance Is TPINX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
Looking for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? You may want to consider Templeton Global Bond A (TPINX) as a possible option. The fund does not have a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, though we have been able to explore other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.
History of Fund/Manager
Franklin is based in San Mateo, CA, and is the manager of TPINX. Templeton Global Bond A made its debut in September of 1986, and since then, TPINX has accumulated about $2.41 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Michael Hasenstab, has been in charge of the fund since December of 2001.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. TPINX has a 5-year annualized total return of -3.02% and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of -3.39%, which places it in the bottom third during this time-frame.
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. TPINX's standard deviation over the past three years is 8.02% compared to the category average of 13.89%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 7.7% compared to the category average of 13.64%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
With a beta of 0.82, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, TPINX has a negative alpha of -4.07, 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, TPINX has 48.42% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 37.45% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of A, and 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, TPINX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.94% compared to the category average of 0.88%. TPINX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Bottom Line
Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Bond funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare TPINX to its peers as well for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.
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