Fund Evaluator:

Navigator Tactical Fixed Income C Overview

Navigator Tactical Fixed Income C (NTBCX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Nontraditional Bond fund. Navigator Funds launched the fund in 2014.

The investment seeks total return with a secondary goal of current income. The fund will normally invest at least 80% of its assets, defined as net assets plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in long and/or short positions in fixed income securities. The adviser defines fixed income securities as including (i) bills, (ii) notes, (iii) structured notes, (iv) bonds, (v) preferred stocks, (vi) any other debt or debt-related securities of any maturities, (vii) fixed income derivatives, and (viii) underlying funds that invest primarily in fixed income securities, or (ix) other evidences of indebtedness.

About Navigator Tactical Fixed Income C (NTBCX)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 9.34 years: K. Clark (2014), Robert Bennett, Jr. (2014), Kevin Bellis (2021), Alexander Meyer (2019). 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 Corporate High Yield TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Navigator Tactical Fixed Income C has 139 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 32.2% 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.

Navigator Tactical Fixed Income C is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Navigator Tactical Fixed Income C has 6.2% 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 61.8% (55.6% domestic bond, 6.2% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Navigator Tactical Fixed Income C has 38.2% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $19 million in total assets, which is below the $663 million average for the Nontraditional 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.

NTBCX 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 Navigator Tactical Fixed Income C expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Nontraditional Bond category. Navigator Tactical Fixed Income C has an expense ratio of 2.03%, which is 43% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a F. 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. Navigator Tactical Fixed Income C has a portfolio turnover rate of 44%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 304% for the Nontraditional Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Navigator Tactical Fixed Income C returned -0.3%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Nontraditional Bond category had an average return of -0.2%. 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.

Navigator Tactical Fixed Income C has a trailing yield of 3.09%, which is below the 4.94% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly 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.

Navigator Tactical Fixed Income C Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 0.9%, 0.3 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 3.9% over the past year (grade of C), 4.1% over the past three years (grade of D) and 1.8% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 3.3% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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