Any investors hoping to find a Muni – Bonds fund could think about starting with PIMCO High Yield Municipals Bond A (PYMAX). PYMAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
We classify PYMAX in the Muni – Bonds category, an area rife with potential choices. Muni – Bonds funds focus their investments on debt securities issued by state and local governments. These are typically used to pay for the construction of infrastructure, the operation of public schools, and other municipal functions. These securities can come in the form of revenue bonds, which are backed by taxes, as well as ” general obligation ” bonds that are not backed by a defined source. Investors are usually interested that come with most municipal bonds, which can be especially important for those in higher tax brackets.
PYMAX is a part of the PIMCO Funds family of funds, a company based out of Newport Beach, CA. PIMCO High Yield Municipals Bond A debuted in August of 2006. Since then, PYMAX has accumulated assets of about $1.35 billion, according to the most recently available information. David Hammer is the fund’s current manager and has held that role since August of 2015.
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 2.93%, 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 2.61%, which places it in the top 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. Compared to the category average of 12.7%, the standard deviation of PYMAX over the past three years is 8.53%. The fund’s standard deviation over the past 5 years is 7.7% compared to the category average of 12.29%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
PYMAX carries a beta of 0.81, 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 2.09, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.