Morningstar's evaluation of this security's process aims to determine the likelihood that it will outperform its Morningstar Category index on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term.
The main driver of the rating is that this fund tracks an index. Historical data, such as Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, finds that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons.
The investment strategy as stated in the fund's prospectus is:
The investment seeks results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index. The fund seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the underlying index, which measures the performance of U.S. dollar-denominated, and fixed rate securities with minimum term to maturity greater than twenty years. The fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in securities included in the underlying index.
This strategy's 12-month yield is 4.5%, higher than its average peer's 4.0%. In addition, it has a 4.3% 30-day SEC yield (a standardized, point-in-time estimate of the fund’s future income return). Higher yields tend to indicate higher credit risk. The portfolio has a lower average surveyed credit quality of AA, compared with the typical peers' AAA and it holds no non-investment-grade assets, similar to its average peer. Strategies that take on more credit risk tend to be at their best when markets are as well. This risk contributes to strong performance during bull markets at the cost of losing more on the downside. In terms of long-term interest-rate risk, this strategy is on par with peers. The longer a strategy's duration, the more sensitive it is to shifts in interest rates. This fund, with a 16.6-year duration, is expected to gain 16.6% of its net asset value if interest rates drop by 1 percentage point, and vice versa.