Fund Evaluator:

PGIM Emerging Markets Debt Hard Ccy A Overview

PGIM Emerging Markets Debt Hard Ccy A (PDHAX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Emerging Markets Bond fund. PGIM launched the fund in 2017.

The investment seeks total return, through a combination of current income and capital appreciation. The fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing under normal circumstances at least 80% of its investable assets in fixed income instruments that are economically tied to emerging market countries and that are denominated in hard currencies. The adviser defines "hard currencies" as the U.S. dollar or any currency of a nation in the G-7 (U.S., Japan, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Canada).

About PGIM Emerging Markets Debt Hard Ccy A (PDHAX)

There are 5 members of the management team with an average tenure of 6.36 years: Cathy Hepworth (2017), Aayush Sonthalia (2021), Mariusz Banasiak (2017), Johnny Mak (2021), Todd Petersen (2021). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: JPM EMBI Global Diversified TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. PGIM Emerging Markets Debt Hard Ccy A has 921 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 10.8% 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.

PGIM Emerging Markets Debt Hard Ccy A is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. PGIM Emerging Markets Debt Hard Ccy A has 94.8% 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 95.9% (1.1% domestic bond, 94.8% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). PGIM Emerging Markets Debt Hard Ccy A has 4.1% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $303 million in total assets, which is below the $325 million average for the Emerging Markets 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.

PDHAX 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 PGIM Emerging Markets Debt Hard Ccy A expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Emerging Markets Bond category. PGIM Emerging Markets Debt Hard Ccy A has an expense ratio of 1.05%, which is 4% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a D. 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. PGIM Emerging Markets Debt Hard Ccy A has a portfolio turnover rate of 36%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 83% for the Emerging Markets Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, PGIM Emerging Markets Debt Hard Ccy A returned -1.4%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Emerging Markets Bond category had an average return of -0.9%. 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.

PGIM Emerging Markets Debt Hard Ccy A has a trailing yield of 6.63%, which is above the 5.99% 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.

PGIM Emerging Markets Debt Hard Ccy A Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 2.3%, 0.2 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of B. The fund has returned 9.8% over the past year (grade of B), 9.4% over the past three years (grade of C) and 2.1% per year over the past five years (grade of D).

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