Yahoo Finance Is STYAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
Having trouble finding a Government Mortgage - Intermediate fund? Wells Fargo Core Plus Bond A (STYAX) is a potential starting point. STYAX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
STYAX is one of many Government Mortgage - Intermediate funds to choose from. Government Mortgage - Intermediate funds focus on the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market. This market takes mortgages, packages them together, and sells off the pooled securities to investors. This particular category focuses on MBS that usually have at least three years to maturity, but less than 10, giving a medium risk and yield profile to funds here.
History of Fund/Manager
STYAX finds itself in the Allspring family, based out of San Francisco, CA. Since Wells Fargo Core Plus Bond A made its debut in July of 1998, STYAX has garnered more than $332.92 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. STYAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 0.82% and it sits in the top 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%, 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. STYAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 7.44% compared to the category average of 12.83%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 6.74% compared to the category average of 13.5%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
STYAX carries a beta of 0.92, 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 1.09, 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, STYAX has 53.47% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 32.1% 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, STYAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.84% compared to the category average of 0.89%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, STYAX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $100.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Wells Fargo Core Plus Bond A ( STYAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, Wells Fargo Core Plus Bond A ( STYAX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
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