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Investment Grade - Bonds: Misc fund seekers should consider taking a look at Frost Total Return Bond Investor (FATRX - Free Report) . FATRX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
Zacks categorizes FATRX as Investment Grade - Bonds: Misc, which is an investment category packed with options. Investment Grade - Bonds: Misc funds do not focus on any one part of the curve, and can hold a variety of investment grade credit levels too. Duration risk will depend on a given fund's profile, and funds in this category may not be directly comparable. Lastly, the focus on investment grade will make funds here safer, but yields will be lower than in the junk bond category.
History of Fund/Manager
FATRX is a part of the Frost Funds family of funds, a company based out of San Antonio, Tx. Frost Total Return Bond Investor debuted in July of 2008. Since then, FATRX has accumulated assets of about $367.33 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Jeffery Elswick who has been in charge of the fund since July of 2008.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 3.34%, 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 3.79%, 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. FATRX's standard deviation over the past three years is 4.87% compared to the category average of 10.96%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 3.89% compared to the category average of 9.07%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
FATRX carries a beta of 0.51, 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 1.29, 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, FATRX has 57.8% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 20.82% 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, FATRX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.72% compared to the category average of 0.92%. So, FATRX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $500.
Bottom Line
Overall, Frost Total Return Bond Investor ( FATRX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, Frost Total Return Bond Investor ( FATRX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about FATRX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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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Is FATRX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
Investment Grade - Bonds: Misc fund seekers should consider taking a look at Frost Total Return Bond Investor (FATRX - Free Report) . FATRX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
Zacks categorizes FATRX as Investment Grade - Bonds: Misc, which is an investment category packed with options. Investment Grade - Bonds: Misc funds do not focus on any one part of the curve, and can hold a variety of investment grade credit levels too. Duration risk will depend on a given fund's profile, and funds in this category may not be directly comparable. Lastly, the focus on investment grade will make funds here safer, but yields will be lower than in the junk bond category.
History of Fund/Manager
FATRX is a part of the Frost Funds family of funds, a company based out of San Antonio, Tx. Frost Total Return Bond Investor debuted in July of 2008. Since then, FATRX has accumulated assets of about $367.33 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Jeffery Elswick who has been in charge of the fund since July of 2008.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 3.34%, 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 3.79%, 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. FATRX's standard deviation over the past three years is 4.87% compared to the category average of 10.96%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 3.89% compared to the category average of 9.07%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
FATRX carries a beta of 0.51, 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 1.29, 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, FATRX has 57.8% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 20.82% 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, FATRX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.72% compared to the category average of 0.92%. So, FATRX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $500.
Bottom Line
Overall, Frost Total Return Bond Investor ( FATRX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, Frost Total Return Bond Investor ( FATRX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about FATRX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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.