Fund Evaluator:

American Funds Corporate Bond R-5E Overview

American Funds Corporate Bond R-5E (RCBHX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Corporate Bond fund. Capital Group launched the fund in 2016.

The investment seeks to provide maximum total return consistent with capital preservation and prudent risk management. The fund normally invests at least 80% of its assets in corporate debt securities, which may be represented by derivatives. It will also normally invest all of its assets in debt instruments, (including bonds, mortgage- and other asset-backed securities, but excluding derivatives) with quality ratings of Baa3 or better or BBB- or better or in debt instruments that are unrated but determined at the time of purchase to be of equivalent quality by the investment adviser.

About American Funds Corporate Bond R-5E (RCBHX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 5.64 years: Scott Sykes (2018), Robert Caldwell (2024), Karen Choi (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 U.S. Corp Invst Grade TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. American Funds Corporate Bond R-5E has 741 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 10.2% 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.

American Funds Corporate Bond R-5E is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. American Funds Corporate Bond R-5E has 11.3% 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 94.5% (83.2% domestic bond, 11.3% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). American Funds Corporate Bond R-5E has 5.5% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $4 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.

RCBHX 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 American Funds Corporate Bond R-5E expense ratio is average compared to funds in the Corporate Bond category. American Funds Corporate Bond R-5E has an expense ratio of 0.47%, which is 37% 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. American Funds Corporate Bond R-5E has a portfolio turnover rate of 216%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 117% for the Corporate Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, American Funds Corporate Bond R-5E returned -1.8%, which earned it a grade of D, 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.

American Funds Corporate Bond R-5E has a trailing yield of 3.74%, 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.

American Funds Corporate Bond R-5E Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned -1.1%, 0.2 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 1.8% over the past year (grade of F), 3.9% over the past three years (grade of F) and -0.7% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 2.2% per year over the past 10 years (grade of D).

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