If you have been looking for Government Mortgage - Short funds, a place to start could be PIMCO Floating Income Fund Institutional (PFIIX). PFIIX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

PFIIX is classified in the Government Mortgage - Short segment by Zacks, which is full of possibilities. Government Mortgage - Short funds focus on the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market, which packages mortgages together and then sells off the pooled securities as a MBS. Focusing on securities that have less than three years until maturity, this category gives funds a lower yield but lower interest rate sensitivity.

History of Fund/Manager

PIMCO Funds is responsible for PFIIX, and the company is based out of Newport Beach, CA. Since PIMCO Floating Income Fund Institutional made its debut in July of 2004, PFIIX has garnered more than $3.47 billion in assets. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 3.14%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 2.29%, which places it in the top 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. Compared to the category average of 12.37%, the standard deviation of PFIIX over the past three years is 4.27%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 4.85% compared to the category average of 13.17%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

With a beta of 0.18, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, PFIIX has a positive alpha of 2.07, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

Ratings

Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, PFIIX has 62% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 22.3% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of AA, and focuses on high quality securities.