Is PTIAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Bond fund category, Performance Trust Total Return Bond (PTIAX) could be a potential option. PTIAX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Performance is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of PTIAX. Performance Trust Total Return Bond made its debut in August of 2010, and since then, PTIAX has accumulated about $6.67 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by G. Michael Plaiss who has been in charge of the fund since August of 2010.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.76%, and is in the top 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 4.92%, 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. Over the past three years, PTIAX's standard deviation comes in at 4.77%, compared to the category average of 4.53%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 3.88% compared to the category average of 3.86%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

With a beta of 0.92, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, PTIAX has a positive alpha of 1.58, 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, PTIAX has 59.84% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 22.76% 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

Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, PTIAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.76% compared to the category average of 0.75%. PTIAX 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 $2,500; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $500.

Bottom Line

Overall, Performance Trust Total Return Bond ( PTIAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on PTIAXin 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.