Fund Evaluator:

Federated Hermes Intermediate Corp Bd IS Overview

Federated Hermes Intermediate Corp Bd IS (FIIFX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Corporate Bond fund. Federated launched the fund in 1993.

The investment seeks to provide current income. The fund invests in a diversified portfolio of investment-grade, fixed-income securities consisting primarily of corporate debt securities, U.S. government mortgage-backed securities, and U.S. Treasury and agency securities. The Adviser seeks to enhance the performance by allocating relatively more of its portfolio to the security type that the Adviser expects to offer the best balance between current income and risk. The foreign securities in which it invests will be predominately denominated in U.S. dollars. It may invest in derivative contracts and/or hybrid instruments to implement its investment strategies.

About Federated Hermes Intermediate Corp Bd IS (FIIFX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 11.23 years: Bryan Dingle (2013), Brian Ruffner (2017). 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 Interm Credit TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Federated Hermes Intermediate Corp Bd IS has 555 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 5.8% 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 Intermediate Corp Bd IS is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Federated Hermes Intermediate Corp Bd IS has 9.7% 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 98.8% (89.1% domestic bond, 9.7% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Federated Hermes Intermediate Corp Bd IS has 0.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $201 million in total assets, which is below the $723 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.

FIIFX 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 Intermediate Corp Bd IS expense ratio is average compared to funds in the Corporate Bond category. Federated Hermes Intermediate Corp Bd IS has an expense ratio of 0.52%, which is 30% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a B. 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 Intermediate Corp Bd IS has a portfolio turnover rate of 17%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.1 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 117% for the Corporate Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Federated Hermes Intermediate Corp Bd IS returned -0.7%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Corporate Bond category had an average return of -1.6%. 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 Intermediate Corp Bd IS has a trailing yield of 4.33%, which is below the 4.39% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly and its capital gains 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 Intermediate Corp Bd IS Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned -0.0%, 0.8 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 2.9% over the past year (grade of A), 4.9% over the past three years (grade of B) and 1.1% per year over the past five years (grade of A) and 2.5% per year over the past 10 years (grade of B).

For more mutual fund grades, analysis and screening tools to help your investment discovery, join AAII for a $2, full-access trial. Learn more here: https://invest.aaii.com/membership.

Otherwise, for more information about Federated Hermes Intermediate Corp Bd IS, including its riskiness, submit your email to unlock the rest of the article.