Fund Evaluator:

Federated Hermes High Yield Strategy Overview

Federated Hermes High Yield Strategy (FHYSX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond High Yield Bond fund. Federated launched the fund in 2008.

The investment seeks high current income by investing primarily in a high-yield bond mutual fund and in a portfolio of fixed-income securities. The fund pursues its investment objective by investing primarily in the High Yield Bond Core Fund (the "underlying fund"), a portfolio of Federated Hermes Core Trust. The underlying fund in turn invests in a diversified portfolio of domestic corporate high-yield bonds (also known as "junk bonds"), but may invest a portion of its portfolio in securities of issuers based outside the United States.

About Federated Hermes High Yield Strategy (FHYSX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 7.80 years: Kathryn Glass (2023), Thomas Scherr (2023), Mark Durbiano (2008). 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 HY 2% Issuer Cap TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Federated Hermes High Yield Strategy has 3 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 99.1% 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 High Yield Strategy is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Federated Hermes High Yield Strategy has 11.5% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.1%. 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 97.4% (85.9% domestic bond, 11.5% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Federated Hermes High Yield Strategy has 1.1% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $96 million in total assets, which is below the $545 million average for the High Yield 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.

FHYSX 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 High Yield Strategy expense ratio is low compared to funds in the High Yield Bond category. Federated Hermes High Yield Strategy has an expense ratio of 0.04%, which is 96% 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 High Yield Strategy has a portfolio turnover rate of 33%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 72% for the High Yield Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Federated Hermes High Yield Strategy returned -0.3%, which earned it a grade of C, as the High Yield Bond category had an average return of -0.3%. 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 funds in that category.

Federated Hermes High Yield Strategy has a trailing yield of 6.40%, which is above the 6.28% 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 High Yield Strategy Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 1.4%, 0.2 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 5.1% over the past year (grade of B), 7.9% over the past three years (grade of B) and 3.8% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 5.3% per year over the past 10 years (grade of B).

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