Fixed Income
Individual mutual fund portfolios that allow you to construct a unique asset allocation strategy
If you prefer to construct your own asset allocation, or supplement other options, you may select among the following fixed income/commodity funds:
Metropolitan West Total Return Bond Fund (MWTSX)
Investment Objective and Principal Strategies
The fund's investment objective is to maximize long-term total return. The Fund pursues its objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in investment grade fixed income securities or unrated securities determined by the Adviser to be of comparable quality. Up to 20% of the Fund’s net assets may be invested in securities rated below investment grade (commonly known as “junk bonds”) or unrated securities determined by the Adviser to be of comparable quality. The Fund also invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in fixed income securities it regards as bonds. A bond is a security or instrument having one or more of the following characteristics: a fixed-income security, a security issued at a discount to its face value, a security that pays interest or a security with a stated principal amount that requires repayment of some or all of the principal amount to the holder of the security. The term “bond” is interpreted broadly by the Adviser as an instrument or security evidencing a promise to pay some amount rather than evidencing the corporate ownership of equity, unless that equity represents an indirect or derivative interest in one or more bonds. Under normal circumstances, the Fund’s portfolio duration is two to eight years and the Fund’s dollar-weighted average maturity ranges from two to fifteen years.
Duration is a measure of the expected life of a fixed income security that is used to determine the sensitivity of a security to changes in interest rates.
The Fund invests in the U.S. and abroad, including emerging markets, and may purchase securities of varying maturities issued by domestic and foreign corporations and governments. The Fund may invest up to 25% of its assets in foreign securities that are denominated in U.S. dollars. The Fund may invest up to 15% of its assets in securities of foreign issuers that are not denominated in U.S. dollars. The Fund may invest up to 10% of its assets in emerging markets securities. The Adviser focuses the Fund’s portfolio holdings in areas of the bond market that the Adviser believes to be relatively under-valued, based on its analysis of quality, sector, coupon or maturity, and that the Adviser believes offer attractive prospective risk-adjusted returns compared to other segments of the bond market.
The Fund’s investments include various types of bonds and debt securities, including corporate bonds, notes, mortgage-related and asset-backed securities (including collateralized debt obligations, which in turn include collateralized bond obligations and collateralized loan obligations), bank loans, U.S. and non-U.S. money market securities, municipal securities, derivatives including credit default swaps and other swaps, futures, options and currency forward contracts, defaulted debt securities, private placements and restricted securities. The Fund’s fixed income investments may have interest rates that are fixed, variable or floating.
Derivatives are used in an effort to hedge investments, for risk management, or to increase income or gains for the Fund. The Fund may also seek to obtain market exposure to the securities in which it invests by entering into a series of purchase and sale contracts or by using other investment techniques.
The Fund may normally short sell up to 25% of the value of its total assets.
Principal Risks
The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its net asset value, yield and total return, are debt securities risk, market risk, interest rate risk, credit risk, price volatility risk, issuer risk, liquidity risk, frequent trading risk, valuation risk, prepayment risk, extension risk, mortgage-backed securities risk, asset-backed securities risk, U.S. treasury obligations risk, U.S. government securities risk, leveraging risk, counterparty risk, derivatives risk, swap agreements risk, futures contracts risk, junk bond risk, unrated securities risk, short sale risk, foreign investing risk, foreign currency risk, emerging markets risk, distressed and defaulted securities risk, securities selection risk, portfolio management risk and public health emergency risks.
PIMCO Income Fund (PIMIX)
Investment Objective and Principal Strategies
The Fund’s primary investment objective is to maximize current income. Long-term capital appreciation is a secondary objective. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objectives by investing under normal circumstances at least 65% of its total assets in a multisector portfolio of Fixed Income Instruments of varying maturities, which may be represented by forwards or derivatives such as options, futures contracts or swap agreements. “Fixed Income Instruments” include bonds, debt securities and other similar instruments issued by various U.S. and non-U.S. public- or private sector entities. The Fund will seek to maintain a high and consistent level of dividend income by investing in a broad array of fixed income sectors and utilizing income efficient implementation strategies. The capital appreciation sought by the Fund generally arises from decreases in interest rates or improving credit fundamentals for a particular sector or security.
The Fund will generally allocate its assets among several investment sectors, without limitation, which may include: (i) high yield securities (“junk bonds”) and investment grade corporate bonds of issuers located in the United States and non-U.S. countries, including emerging market countries; (ii) fixed income securities issued by U.S. and non-U.S. governments (including emerging market governments), their agencies and instrumentalities; (iii) mortgage-related and other asset backed securities; and (iv) foreign currencies, including those of emerging market countries. However, the Fund is not required to gain exposure to any one investment sector, and the Fund’s exposure to any one investment sector will vary over time. The average portfolio duration of this Fund normally varies from zero to eight years based on Pacific Investment Management Company LLC’s (“PIMCO”) market forecasts. Duration is a measure used to determine the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates. The longer a security’s duration, the more sensitive it will be to changes in interest rates.
The Fund may invest up to 50% of its total assets in high yield securities rated below investment grade by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc., Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services or Fitch, Inc., or if unrated, as determined by PIMCO (except such 50% limitation shall not apply to the Fund’s investments in mortgage and asset-backed securities). In the event that ratings services assign different ratings to the same security, PIMCO will use the highest rating as the credit rating for that security. In addition, the Fund may invest, without limitation, in securities denominated in foreign currencies. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its total assets in securities and instruments that are economically tied to emerging market countries (this limitation does not apply to investment grade sovereign debt denominated in the local currency with less than 1 year remaining to maturity, which means the Fund may invest in such instruments without limitation subject to any applicable legal or regulatory limitation). The Fund will normally limit its foreign currency exposure (from non-U.S. dollar-denominated securities or currencies) to 10% of its total assets.
The Fund may invest, without limitation, in derivative instruments, such as options, futures contracts or swap agreements, or in mortgage- or asset-backed securities, subject to applicable law and any other restrictions described in the Fund’s prospectus or Statement of Additional Information. The Fund may purchase or sell securities on a when-issued, delayed delivery or forward commitment basis and may engage in short sales. The Fund may, without limitation, seek to obtain market exposure to the securities in which it primarily invests by entering into a series of purchase and sale contracts or by using other investment techniques (such as buy backs or dollar rolls). The Fund may also invest in contingent convertible securities and up to 10% of its total assets in preferred securities.
Principal Risks
It is possible to lose money on an investment in the Fund. The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its net asset value, yield and total return, are interest rate risk, call risk, credit risk, high yield risk, market risk, issuer risk, liquidity risk, derivatives risk, equity risk, mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities risk, foreign (non-U.S.) investment risk, emerging markets risk, sovereign debt risk, currency risk, leverage risk, management risk, short exposure risk, distribution rate risk, contingent convertible securities risk and LIBOR transition risk.
PIMCO Real Return Fund (PRRIX)
Investment Objective and Principal Strategies
The fund's investment objective is maximum real return, consistent with preservation of capital and prudent investment management. The Fund seeks its investment objective by investing under normal circumstances at least 80% of its net assets in inflation-indexed bonds of varying maturities issued by the U.S. and non-U.S. governments, their agencies or instrumentalities, and corporations, which may be represented by forwards or derivatives such as options, futures contracts or swap agreements. Assets not invested in inflation-indexed bonds may be invested in other types of Fixed Income Instruments. “Fixed Income Instruments” include bonds, debt securities and other similar instruments issued by various U.S. and non-U.S. public- or private-sector entities. Inflation-indexed bonds are fixed income securities that are structured to provide protection against inflation. The value of the bond’s principal or the interest income paid on the bond is adjusted to track changes in an official inflation measure. The U.S. Treasury uses the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers as the inflation measure. Inflation-indexed bonds issued by a foreign government are generally adjusted to reflect a comparable inflation index, calculated by that government. “Real return” equals total return less the estimated cost of inflation, which is typically measured by the change in an official inflation measure. Additionally, “real yield” equals “nominal yield” less the market implied rate of inflation, and “nominal yield” is the interest rate that an issuer has promised to pay on an instrument that is not an inflation-linked instrument.
Duration is a measure used to determine the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates. The longer a security’s duration, the more sensitive it will be to changes in interest rates. Effective duration, the most common method of calculating duration, takes into account that for certain bonds expected cash flows will fluctuate as interest rates change and is defined in nominal yield terms, which is market convention for most bond investors and managers. Because market convention for bonds is to use nominal yields to measure effective duration, effective duration for real return bonds, which are based on real yields, are converted through a conversion factor. The resulting nominal effective duration typically can range from 20% and 90% of the respective real effective duration. All security holdings will be measured in nominal effective duration terms. Similarly, the effective duration of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. TIPS Index will be calculated using the same conversion factors. The effective duration of this Fund normally varies within three years (plus or minus) of the effective duration of the securities comprising the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. TIPS Index, as calculated by PIMCO, which as of May 31, 2020 was 7.84 years.
The Fund invests primarily in investment grade securities, but may invest up to 10% of its total assets in high yield securities (“junk bonds”) rated B or higher by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”), or equivalently rated by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (“S&P”) or Fitch, Inc. (“Fitch”), or, if unrated, determined by PIMCO to be of comparable quality (except that within such 10% limitation, the Fund may invest in mortgage-related securities rated below B). In the event that ratings services assign different ratings to the same security, PIMCO will use the highest rating as the credit rating for that security.
The Fund also may invest up to 30% of its total assets in securities denominated in foreign currencies, and may invest beyond this limit in U.S. dollar denominated securities of foreign issuers. The Fund may invest up to 10% of its total assets in securities and instruments that are economically tied to emerging market countries (this limitation does not apply to investment grade sovereign debt denominated in the local currency with less than 1 year remaining to maturity, which means the Fund may invest, together with any other investments denominated in foreign currencies, up to 30% of its total assets in such instruments).The Fund will normally limit its foreign currency exposure (from non-U.S. dollar-denominated securities or currencies) to 20% of its total assets.
The Fund may invest, without limitation, in derivative instruments, such as options, futures contracts or swap agreements, or in mortgage- or asset backed securities, subject to applicable law and any other restrictions described in the Fund’s prospectus or Statement of Additional Information (the “SAI”). The Fund may purchase or sell securities on a when-issued, delayed delivery or forward commitment basis and may engage in short sales. The Fund may, without limitation, seek to obtain market exposure to the securities in which it primarily invests by entering into a series of purchase and sale contracts or by using other investment techniques (such as buy backs or dollar rolls). The Fund may also invest up to 10% of its total assets in preferred securities.
Principal Risks
The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its net asset value, yield and total return, are interest rate risk, call risk, credit risk, high yield risk, market risk, issuer risk, liquidity risk, derivatives risk, equity risk, mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities risk, foreign (non-U.S.) investment risk, emerging markets risk, sovereign debt risk, currency risk, leveraging risk, management risk, inflation-indexed security risk and short exposure risk.