Tag Archives: investing

5 Top-Ranked Diversified Bond Mutual Funds To Add To Your Portfolio

Fixed-income securities are the preferred choice of investors who are ready to forgo capital growth for regular income flows. The expense involved in creating such a portfolio of bonds from different categories may be quite considerable. This is why most investors select mutual funds since they are a convenient and affordable method of investing in bonds. Also, diversified bond funds further reduce the risk involved by holding securities from different sectors. A downturn in any one sector therefore only has a partial effect on the fund’s fortunes. Below, we share with you 5 best-ranked diversified bond mutual funds. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and we expect the funds to outperform their peers in the future. PIMCO Fixed Income SHares: Series C (MUTF: FXICX ) seeks to maximize total return with preservation of capital. FXICX invests the majority of its assets in fixed-income securities including corporate debt obligations, inflation-indexed securities of corporate bodies and structured notes. FXICX allocates its assets throughout the globe. The PIMCO Fixed Income SHares C fund has a three-year annualized return of 1.6%. Curtis Mewbourne is the fund manager of FXICX since 2009. PIMCO Income Fund A (MUTF: PONAX ) invests a minimum of 65% of its assets in fixed income securities from a wide range of sectors. These securities may include options, futures contracts and swap agreements. PONAX may invest not more than half of its assets in securities that are rated below investment grade. The PIMCO Income A fund has a three-year annualized return of 3.9%. PONAX has an expense ratio of 0.85% compared to a category average of 1.02%. Toreador Core Fund Adv (MUTF: TORLX ) seeks long-term capital growth. TORLX invests mostly in domestic and foreign large-cap companies. The market capitalizations of these companies are identical to those listed in the S&P 500 Index or the Russell 1000 Index. The Toreador Core Retail fund has a three-year annualized return of 8%. As of October 2015, TORLX held 97 issues, with 5.14% of its total assets invested in Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU ). Columbia Strategic Income Fund A (MUTF: COSIX ) invests in U.S. government bonds, investment grade corporate bonds, mortgage backed securities, inflation-protected securities, convertible securities as well as high yield instruments. COSIX seeks total return that includes current income and capital appreciation. The Columbia Strategic Income A fund has a three-year annualized return of 0.7%. Colin Lundgren is the lead manager and has managed COSIX since 2010. John Hancock Income Fund A (MUTF: JHFIX ) seeks a high level of current income. JHFIX mostly invests in three types of securities. These include corporate debt securities from both developed and emerging markets, U.S. government securities and domestic high yield bonds. JHFIX may invest a maximum 10% of its assets in foreign stocks. The JHancock Income A fund has a three-year annualized return of 1.7%. JHFIX has an expense ratio of 0.81% compared to a category average of 1.02%. Original Post

A New Cybersecurity ETF From Global X Is On Its Way (Revised)

The year 2015 may have been soft for the cybersecurity ETFs, but the craze for issuing more cybersecurity funds has not abated at all. Issuers are still seeing long-term prospects in it. Most recently, ETF issuer Global X announced plans to dip its toes into the space and filed for a cybersecurity ETF. Inside the Proposed Fund The fund looks to track the Cyber Security Index. The fund invests a minimum of 80% of its total assets in global securities, and in ADRs and GDRs based on the securities in the underlying index, per the filing . How Does It Fit in the Portfolio? The newly filed ETF can be a good choice for investors seeking exposure to the fast-growing and high-potential space of cybersecurity. While technology has been a great boon to mankind, it has lugged with it the ills of “cybercrime”. Enterprises and government agencies constantly face cyber attacks and are always in the want of rigorous cybersecurity to fight hackers. Per the Center for Strategic and International Studies and McAfee, cybercrime is a fast expanding industry with high returns and low risks. Their study projects that cybercrime costs the world over $400 billion per year. Also, “Key Findings from the Global State of Information Security Survey 2015” by PWC indicated that cybersecurity instances increased at a CAGR of 66% from 2009. These data clearly explain the latent potential of the newly filed product. ETF Competition While no one has any doubt over the success of the fund, provided it gets an approval, thanks to the budding potential in the space, competition seems to be a little tough. The PureFunds ISE Cyber Security ETF (NYSEARCA: HACK ) and the First Trust NASDAQ CEA Cybersecurity ETF (NASDAQ: CIBR ) are presently operating in the regular cybersecurity field with about $1.02 billion and $105.8 million, respectively. HACK is about a year old while CIBR is just six months old. HACK charges 75 bps, and CIBR charges 60 bps as fees. Investors should also note that Direxion – a renowned player in the leveraged and inverse leveraged ETF world – is also in the arena with two products focusing on the cybersecurity sector – one providing a leveraged bull play and the other an inverse leveraged bear play. The Direxion Daily Cyber Security Bull 2x Shares ETF (NYSEARCA: HAKK ) looks to offer double the daily exposure to the ISE Cyber Security Index while the Direxion Daily Cyber Security Bear 2x Shares ETF (NYSEARCA: HAKD ) gives twice the opposite exposure of the daily performance of the same index. If Global X fund manages to get an approval, it needs to offer competitive expense ratio and a better balancing in portfolio to garner investors’ assets. After all, the proposed fund lacks the first-mover advantage. So, to beat HACK and CIBR over the long term, the proposed fund should offer attractive options as far as exposure, stock-specific concentration risk and expense ratios are concerned. Original post

AQR To Close Top-Performing Alternative Funds To New Investors

AQR will be closing its Style Premia Alternative (MUTF: QSPIX ) and Style Premia Alternative LV (MUTF: QSLIX ) funds to new investors as of March 16. The funds, which posted respective gains of 8.76% and 4.02% in 2015, closed out the year as two of the top three multialternative funds in December. Clearly, they are not being closed due to poor performance – both funds finished in the top 3% of their Morningstar category for the recently concluded year. Instead, the funds are being closed to new investors because they’re nearing the maximum capacity of their strategies. QSPIX, with $2.2 billion in assets, and QSLIX, with $218 million, aren’t the only alternative funds AQR has had to close for this same reason: In June 2012, the firm closed the AQR Diversified Arbitrage Fund (MUTF: ADAIX ). The fund ranked in the top 2%, 41%, and 26% of its category from 2010 through 2012. In November 2012, AQR barred new investors from buying shares of its Risk Parity Fund (MUTF: AQRIX ). That fund launched in late 2010 and ranked in the top 2% and 11% in 2011 and 2012. And in September 2013, the AQR Multi-Strategy Alternative Fund (MUTF: ASAIX ) had to be closed, too. Today, the fund has a five-star rating from Morningstar, and it ranked in the top 2% of its category in 2015 (top 4% in 2014). The procedure for how AQR will wind down new investments in QSPIX and QSLIX, and how existing shareholders will be impacted, is outlined in a January 26 SEC filing . Past performance does not necessarily predict future results. Jason Seagraves contributed to this article.