Fund Evaluator:

Federated Hermes Corporate Bond Strategy Overview

Federated Hermes Corporate Bond Strategy (FCSPX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Corporate Bond fund. Federated launched the fund in 2006.

The investment seeks total return. The fund invests primarily in a diversified portfolio of investment-grade, corporate fixed-income securities. While the fund may invest in securities of any maturity, the fund's average duration is expected to vary and may range between one and ten years depending on the Adviser's view of interest rates. It may also invest in Treasury securities, government securities and derivative instruments to implement its investment strategies.

About Federated Hermes Corporate Bond Strategy (FCSPX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 12.52 years: Jerome Conner (2010), Brian Ruffner (2018). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg US Credit TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Federated Hermes Corporate Bond Strategy has 455 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 19.0% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Federated Hermes Corporate Bond Strategy is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Federated Hermes Corporate Bond Strategy has 15.7% 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 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 97.8% (82.1% domestic bond, 15.7% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Federated Hermes Corporate Bond Strategy has 2.2% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $225 million in total assets, which is below the $720 million average for the Corporate 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.

FCSPX 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 Federated Hermes Corporate Bond Strategy expense ratio is low compared to funds in the Corporate Bond category. Federated Hermes Corporate Bond Strategy has an expense ratio of 0.00%, which is 100% 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. Federated Hermes Corporate Bond Strategy has a portfolio turnover rate of 66%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 119% for the Corporate Bond category.

Recently, in the month of August 2026, Federated Hermes Corporate Bond Strategy returned 0.5%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Corporate Bond category had an average return of 0.4%. 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 funds in that category.

Federated Hermes Corporate Bond Strategy has a trailing yield of 5.01%, which is above the 4.40% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly and its capital gains semi-annually.

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.

Federated Hermes Corporate Bond Strategy Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 0.2%, 0.7 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 2.4% over the past year (grade of A), 5.6% over the past three years (grade of A) and 0.4% per year over the past five years (grade of A) and 3.1% per year over the past 10 years (grade of A).

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