Is FTBFX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

On the lookout for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? Starting with Fidelity Total Bond (FTBFX) is one possibility. FTBFX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is responsible for FTBFX, and the company is based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Total Bond made its debut in October of 2002, and since then, FTBFX has accumulated about $15.68 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. FTBFX has a 5-year annualized total return of 4.03% and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 5.18%, which places it in the top 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, FTBFX's standard deviation comes in at 4.09%, compared to the category average of 12.66%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 3.49% compared to the category average of 11.09%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.94, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, FTBFX has a positive alpha of 1.02, 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, FTBFX has 49.47% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 29.32% 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

For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, FTBFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.45% compared to the category average of 0.83%. So, FTBFX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $0; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Total Bond ( FTBFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

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 FTBFX to its peers 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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