Any investors hoping to find a High Yield - Bonds fund could think about starting with USAA High Income (USHYX). USHYX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

USHYX is part of the High Yield - Bonds section, which is a segment that boasts many possible options. Often referred to as " junk " bonds, High Yield - Bonds funds sit below investment grade, meaning they are at a high default risk compared to their investment grade peers. However, one advantage to junk bonds is that they generally pay out higher yields while posing similar interest rate risks to their investment grade counterparts.

History of Fund/Manager

Victory is based in Columbus, OH, and is the manager of USHYX. USAA High Income made its debut in August of 1999, and since then, USHYX has accumulated about $742.65 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. USHYX has a 5-year annualized total return of 2.8% and it sits in the middle 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 1.28%, 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. Over the past three years, USHYX's standard deviation comes in at 8.21%, compared to the category average of 11.96%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 10.41% compared to the category average of 13.12%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

USHYX carries a beta of 0.18, 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 3, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, USHYX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.81% compared to the category average of 0.94%. From a cost perspective, USHYX is actually cheaper than its peers.