ETF Evaluator: American Century® Core Plus Income ETF (ABND) Follow This ETF

American Century® Core Plus Income ETF Overview

American Century® Core Plus Income ETF (ABND) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Multisector Bond exchange-traded fund (ETF). American Century Investments launched the ETF in 2021.

The investment seeks to provide a high level of current income and total return. The fund invests in various sectors of the fixed income market holding instruments such as corporate bonds and notes, government securities, securitized credit instruments, and emerging markets debt securities. It may also utilize derivative instruments provided that such investments are in keeping with the fund’s investment objectives.

About American Century® Core Plus Income ETF (ABND)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 3.36 years: Paul Norris (2023), Charles Tan (2021), Stephen Bartolini (2026) and Jason Greenblath (2021). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 1 primary benchmark: Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. American Century® Core Plus Income ETF has 461 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 25.1% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

American Century® Core Plus Income ETF is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond ETF group. American Century® Core Plus Income ETF has 10.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0% There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 1.7% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 96.3% (86.4% domestic bond, 10.0% foreign bond and 0.4% convertible bond). American Century® Core Plus Income ETF has 2.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $262 million in total assets, which is below the $1 billion average for the Multisector Bond category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

ABND Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The American Century® Core Plus Income ETF expense ratio is below average compared to funds in the Multisector Bond category. American Century® Core Plus Income ETF has an expense ratio of 0.32%, which is 50% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. American Century® Core Plus Income ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 163%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 160% for the Multisector Bond category.

Recently, in the month of September 2026, American Century® Core Plus Income ETF returned -3.0%, which earned it a grade of F, as the Multisector Bond category had an average return of -2.3%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

American Century® Core Plus Income ETF has a trailing yield of 5.61%, which is below the 5.72% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

American Century® Core Plus Income ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned -2.4%, 1.9 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned -1.1% over the past year (grade of F), 5.8% over the past three years (grade of D) and 1.4% per year over the past five years (grade of D).

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