High Yield - Bonds fund seekers should consider taking a look at BlackRock High Yield Bond Institutional (BHYIX). BHYIX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

BHYIX is classified in the High Yield - Bonds segment by Zacks, an area full of investment possibilities. High Yield - Bonds funds come in below investment grade, and are referred to as " junk " bonds for this reason. Compared to their investment grade peers, these funds are at a higher default risk, but typically pay out higher yields while posing similar interest rate risks.

History of Fund/Manager

BlackRock is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of BHYIX. The BlackRock High Yield Bond Institutional made its debut in November of 1998 and BHYIX has managed to accumulate roughly $12.30 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Mitchell Garfin, has been in charge of the fund since December of 2009.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.23%, and is in the top third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 3.34%, 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. The standard deviation of BHYIX over the past three years is 8.3% compared to the category average of 13.17%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 9.46% compared to the category average of 14.21%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

BHYIX carries a beta of 0.17, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 4.47, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

Expenses

For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, BHYIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.57% compared to the category average of 0.95%. BHYIX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.