Standard & Poor's today announced the 25 high yield bond funds awarded Select status, in the first fixed-income fund Select list. The latest list is the ninth since March when S&P initiated the Select program in an attempt to compete with
Morningstar's pervasive star ranking system.
The funds selected are those that, according to S&P, show "superior consistent returns and quality of management against the peer group of all domestic high yield bond funds."
"After three consecutive good years, however, the high yield market has been more challenging for fund managers in the last two," said
Phillip Edwards, managing director at Standard & Poor's responsible for the Select Funds.
Although the funds utilize a number of different strategies and risk controls to achieve their goals, said Edwards, the list of 25 names does contain some of the more conservative funds in the universe.
Overall, most of the funds' portfolios have an average credit rating of B, although some do average a little higher. Most of the funds are highly diversified, often holding between 100 and 250 investments diversified across a number of industry groups. Exceptions to that rule include Columbia High Yield (CMHYX), which generally holds 60 or less, and SEI's multi-manager institutional Managed Fund (SHYAX), which currently holds around 700.
The Select Funds performance, both long-term and short-term, has consistently beaten their peers and benchmark, the Lehman High Yield Bond Index. Year-to-date, the Select Funds have achieved a 2.22% gain, compared to 1.30% for the peer group and 0.08% for the index. In the past year, the Select Funds have gained 7.71% versus gains of 6.41% and 4.34% in the peer group and benchmark respectively.
| S&P's High Yield Bond Select Funds |
| Fund Name | Ticker | Fund Group |
| Colonial High Yield Securities/A,B | COLHX, COHBX | Colonial |
| Columbia High Yield | CMHYX | Columbia |
| Eaton Vance High Income/B,C | EVHIX, ECHIX | Eaton Vance |
| Eaton Vance Income Fund of Boston/A | EVIBX | Eaton Vance |
| Enterprise High Yield Bond Portfolio/A,B | ENHYX, ENHBX | Enterprise |
| Federated High Income Bond | FHIIX | Federated |
| Federated High Yield Trust | FHYTX | Federated |
| Invesco Income High Yield | FHYPX | Invesco |
| Janus High Yield | JAHYX | Janus |
| Lord Abbett Bond Debenture/A | LBNDX | Lord Abbett |
| MainStay High Yield Corporate Bond/A,B | MHCAX, MKHCX | MainStay |
| MAS High Yield Portfolio/Instl | MPHYX | MAS |
| MFS High Income/A | MHITX | MFS |
| MSDW Instl. High Yield | MSHYX | Morgan Stanley Instl. |
| New England High Income/A | NEFHX | New England |
| Northeast Investors Trust | NTHEX | Northeast Investors |
| Pimco High Yield/Admin, Instl. | PHYAX, PHIYX | Pimco |
| Safeco High Yield Bond | SAFHX | Safeco |
| SEI Instl. Managed High Yield | SHYAX | SEI |
| Strong High Yield Bond | STHYX | Strong |
| T. Rowe Price High Yield | PRHYX | T. Rowe Price |
| TCW Galileo High Yield Bond | TGHYX | TCW Galileo |
| United High Income II/A,Y | UNHHX | United |
| United High Income/A,Y | UNHIX | United |
| Vanguard Fixed Inc Sec Fd High Yield Corp | VWEHX | Vanguard |
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