POGSX. The best joke is the one that is cracked without realizing it.
The best phone number, some people should dial, but don't... 1-800-EAT-S***

@Mike_E, that is good info on the 11.32% convertibles, 6.1% preferred stocks.
So really 25.53% stocks as you mentioned above. How is one supposed to fit this into their asset allocation? Eaton Vance is a load firm. Wonder what advice they are giving all their dealers, about how to use this fund. Where does it fit into a portfolio?

Looking at ASDVX which I own, it says they may also invest in certain equity securities such as preferred stock, convertibles, or equivalents. Now does that mean almost 20% of the portfolio? I suspect not. Then again Kathleen Gaffney is well respected so she must know what she is doing. I went to the website and I see Caterpillar, Constellation, Ingersoll Rand, Kinder Morgan to name a few. That list is from Aug. 31. I think these are stocks as the coupon rate is 0%. On ASDVX the website does not show any stocks at this time.

Asset Allocation 7 More Information
AS OF 8/31/2014; MORNINGSTAR CATEGORY: MULTISECTOR BOND
Cash 19.12%
Convertibles 11.32%
Domestic Bond 19.41%
Preferred Stock 6.10%
Foreign Bond 21.02%
Foreign Stock 3.21%
Others 3.61%
Domestic Stock 16.22%
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/view-all/277905246?type=o-NavBar
Scroll halfway down the page.
Just summing the domestic, foreign, and preferred stocks = 25.53%
Add to that 11.32% in convertibles and you have a fund with a market beta approximately = 0.64 (per portfolio visualizer regression analysis). That's on the high side for me for a multi-sector bond fund.
http://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/factor-analysis
Mike_E

I think a lot of these funds have that option to go into equities. I guess that high of a percentage took me by surprise. I don't know if they have limits. M* didn't list the stocks individually so it is hard to see what direction she is going in.
Do we know what " other" is?

John, that is one thing I find frustrating about M*
We don't know what "other" is. I find the same issue with lots of other mutual funds.
One thing I notice is that when a fund invests in exchange traded funds, exchange traded notes, other mutual funds, etc, that shows up as "other". There must be a lot of "other" things that also show up under "other". Quite remarkable that she has 19% stocks in what you would think was a bond fund. Do we want to start calling this a conservative asset allocation fund?!
I'm sure we could find out what the "other" is....by going to the website, reading the fund reports, and if necessary, calling the fund company. I've discovered that it's harder to find out what is in bond funds than stock funds. But even the "other" in stock funds can be challenging.

According to M*, EVBAX has 19.4% in stocks and 21% in "other". Unconstrained for this fund means outside the bond universe.

John, this info adds to our recent discussions of unconstrained/multisector bond funds. They can cut both ways. Not used to seeing that manager 99th percentile in her category.
Look at the 1 day performance of the Barclay's US Agg index, which is the U.S. Total Bond Market index.....up .04%
EVBAX -.83%, which is almost as bad as the stock market did yesterday.
I think she's probably a great bond manager, and this is probably a great fund.....but one has to go in with eyes open. How has this fund diversified away stock market risk the past 3 months? And that is the conventional purpose of holding bond funds, to diversify away stock market risk.

According to M*, EVBAX has 19.4% in stocks and 21% in "other". Unconstrained for this fund means outside the bond universe.

EVBAX is down nearly 3% more than it's (Lipper) category average in the last month (challenging market environment). I realize that one month is a very short period of time and will hold. Any thoughts?

Thanks for pointing this out. Had no idea. A very rough month and 3 months for the fund. Underperforming the total bond market index by 5.85% over 3 months. That's a lot for a bond fund over 3 months. Speaks to how 'unconventional' some of the unconstrained and multi-sector bond funds are, and how these funds may diversify or not diversify the stock portion of a portfolio.

Very eye-opening numbers over the past three months, I must say.

Cashin has only been on the floor of the NYSE for something like 50+ years.
Edited to add: Bio http://www.businessinsider.com/art-cashin-biography-2012-7?op=1

EVBAX is down nearly 3% more than it's (Lipper) category average in the last month (challenging market environment). I realize that one month is a very short period of time and will hold. Any thoughts?

Thanks for pointing this out. Had no idea. A very rough month and 3 months for the fund. Underperforming the total bond market index by 5.85% over 3 months. That's a lot for a bond fund over 3 months. Speaks to how 'unconventional' some of the unconstrained and multi-sector bond funds are, and how these funds may diversify or not diversify the stock portion of a portfolio.

I'm close to 13%. It helps to dampen volatility and is supposed to be "less" correlated to the market.
For an quick and dirty view, on a day when my benchmark is down 1.4%, my portofolio was down 1.1%
BPLEX continues to be the cream of the crop: up 5% YTD

@MFO Board Member: Now it appears that Art Cashin has become relevant, at least in the eyes of John Wayne (Aka. John Chisum). As many of you know, a while back I linked his daily commentaries on a regular bases. I stopped doing so because I got tired of the negative comments directed ar Art. Here is the video of this thoughts on resistance at 1925 on the S&P 500.
Regards,
Ted
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000318836&play=1

1905 is the 200d simple moving average, which is apparently why he mentions 1900-1905 in the piece. But there's no rationale given for anything he's quoted as saying, so it's anyone's guess.
A blowthrough of the 200d (especially one that's sustained for a couple of days) could trigger significant additional selling.

Looks like I linked an old article. Oops. In the article the next stop was 1900-1905. Basically we are there now.
Art is a technical guru and a good one. For the day traders his info might be good. For most of us here it probably doesn't matter anyway.

Since it closed at 1906 - what should we watch next?

Art Cashin is one of the better personalities on CNBC.
http://www.businessinsider.com/art-cashin-on-sp-500-1925-2014-10

Good article on the differences of these two funds and the added risks of core plus funds.
http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/10/core-bonds-core-plus/

Thinking about this subject this weekend and I have a question or two. It seems to me that the benefit of these long-short funds only shows itself if one invests a large amount or all of their portfolio. Having 10 or 20% does not benefit the portfolio in a meaningful way.
On the bond side, how much percentage of your portfolios would you place in fixed income during a bear market? Also would a balanced portfolio of 50% fixed income and 50% L/S funds be a mix that might work? I am not thinking of doing that but just throwing the question out there.
Have a great weekend to all.

FAIRX actually had great relative performance today. Down 0.14%, versus -1.25% for the Total US Stock Market Index.

Including today, 4 distribution days this bad week...
down 3% for week...4.4% for past month...
less than 1% above 200 d average.