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Why These Active Bond Funds Are Worth a Premium

Our MFO contributor, Lewis Branham, wrote an article on active bond funds and ETF on Barrons. The article is behind a paywall. Here are the funds and ETFs highlighted in the article:

Dodge & Cox Global Bond / DODLX
Dodge & Cox Income / DODIX
Eaton Vance Total Return Bond / EBABX
Eaton Vance Total Return Bond / EVTR
Hartford Strategic Income / HSNAX
Hartford Strategic Income / HFSI
Pimco Income / PONAX
Pimco Multisector Bond Active / PYLD
Vanguard Multi-Sector Income Bond / VMSIX
Vanguard Multi-Sector Income Bond / VGMS
Liquidity is always challenging for institutional bond buyers outside of Treasuries and the largest corporate debt issuers. “When I look at what’s going on in the ETF space in terms of very illiquid investments making their way into daily liquid ETFs”—collateralized loan obligations, complex option strategies, private investments—“I’m concerned,” says Daniel Ivascyn, manager of the $188 billion Pimco Income mutual fund.

He also manages the $6 billion Pimco Multisector Bond Active ETF, though he stresses that the mutual fund “is a highly flexible strategy, very tactical, very active.” The ETF’s strategy is longer-term-oriented. Its expense ratio of 0.55% is lower than the 0.90% charged by the mutual fund’s retail A-share class.

Ivascyn’s team has long profited from its bets on securitized mortgage and consumer debt—home, auto, and credit-card loans bundled as tradable securities. The ETF has a 40% weighting in such debt, according to Morningstar. “We know that government balance sheets have weakened considerably [since the 2008-09 crash], and corporate balance sheets have deteriorated,” he says. “But the consumer balance sheet has only improved.”

There are other sectors worth exploring today, Ivascyn says, especially overseas, where investors can find not only better yields but also cheap currencies relative to the dollar. Although he thinks the road will be bumpy, over the next five years, he says, “one of our highest conviction views would be dollar weakness.”

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