Mutual Fund Morning
Bond Funds -- American Style
Sam Patel
02/02/07 - 12:00 PM EST
If you're looking for bond funds you may want to do it American style -- American Funds, that is.
The company best known for the largest stock fund in the world -- its $147 billion ( AGTHX Quote)Growth Fund of America behemoth -- is also one of the best places to put your money when looking for a bond play.
Every month TheStreet.com Ratings analyzes 5,000 bond funds and generates a top 200 list that highlights the best-rated and best-performing funds. Our latest list is dominated by the Capital Research & Management-owned American Funds family.
For the full year 2006, the breakdown of this list by asset class shows that two of the most prominent types of funds are corporate high-yield funds and general investment-grade funds.
With these two options, investors can choose, according to their own risk tolerances and risk/return criteria, whether they want to chase higher yields and higher risk via the Corporate High Yield market or reduce the level of risk by investing in investment grade bonds. A combination of both types of funds is also an option.
Below is a table highlighting the corporate high-yield funds that made our top 200 list. All funds in both tables are rated A plus by our models.
| Corporate High-Yield Funds (Ranked by 1-year Return) | ||||||
| Fund | Ticker | 1-Year Return (%) | 6-Month Return (%) | 3-Month Return (%) | Dividend Yield (%) | |
| American Funds High Income Tr R5 | RITFX | 12.45 | 8.36 | 4.78 | 7.53 | |
| American Funds High Income Tr 529F | CITFX | 12.35 | 8.31 | 4.75 | 7.44 | |
| American Funds High Income Tr A | AHITX | 12.19 | 8.24 | 4.71 | 7.03 | |
| American Funds High Income Tr F | AHTFX | 12.16 | 8.22 | 4.71 | 7.28 | |
| American Funds High Income Tr 529A | CITAX | 12.13 | 8.21 | 4.7 | 6.98 | |
| American Funds High Income Tr R4 | RITEX | 12.12 | 8.2 | 4.7 | 7.24 | |
| American Funds High Income Tr 529E | CITEX | 11.8 | 8.04 | 4.62 | 6.96 | |
| American Funds High Income Tr R3 | RITCX | 11.76 | 8.01 | 4.61 | 6.93 | |
| American Funds High Income Tr B | AHTBX | 11.34 | 7.81 | 4.51 | 6.55 | |
| BlackRock High Yield Bond Svc | BHYSX | 11.33 | 8.32 | 4.48 | 7.06 | |
| General Investment-Grade Funds (Ranked by 1-year Return) | ||||||
| Fund | Ticker | 1-Year Return (%) | 6-Month Return (%) | 3-Month Return (%) | Dividend Yield (%) | |
| American Beacon Hi-Yld Bd PlanAhd | AHYPX | 9.46 | 6.36 | 3.63 | 7.31 | |
| American Funds Bnd Fd of Amer R5 | RBFFX | 6.17 | 5.59 | 1.99 | 5.19 | |
| American Funds Bnd Fd of Amer 529F | CFAFX | 6.05 | 5.53 | 1.96 | 5.08 | |
| American Funds Bnd Fd of Amer F | BFAFX | 5.9 | 5.45 | 1.92 | 4.94 | |
| American Funds Bnd Fd of Amer A | ABNDX | 5.88 | 5.44 | 1.91 | 4.73 | |
| American Funds Bnd Fd of Amer R4 | RBFEX | 5.86 | 5.42 | 1.91 | 4.9 | |
| American Funds Bnd Fd of Amer 529A | CFAAX | 5.84 | 5.42 | 1.9 | 4.7 | |
| American Funds Bnd Fd of Amer 529E | CFAEX | 5.52 | 5.25 | 1.82 | 4.59 | |
| American Funds Bnd Fd of Amer R3 | RBFCX | 5.49 | 5.24 | 1.82 | 4.55 | |
| Atlas American Enterprise Bond Fd | ATAEX | 5.2 | 5.44 | 1.58 | 4.82 | |