Fund Evaluator:

Sterling Capital Total Return Bond R6 Overview

Sterling Capital Total Return Bond R6 (STRDX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Intermediate Core Bond fund. Sterling Capital Funds launched the fund in 2018.

The investment seeks a high level of current income and a competitive total return. The fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets plus borrowings for investment purposes in a diversified portfolio of bonds, including: securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities, corporate bonds, asset-backed securities, mortgage-backed securities, including commercial mortgage-backed securities and collateralized mortgage obligations, municipal securities, and convertible securities.

About Sterling Capital Total Return Bond R6 (STRDX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 12.55 years: Mark Montgomery (2008), Peter Brown (2020). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Sterling Capital Total Return Bond R6 has 386 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 17.0% 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.

Sterling Capital Total Return Bond R6 is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Sterling Capital Total Return Bond R6 has 3.7% 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 0.2% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 97.9% (94.2% domestic bond, 3.7% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Sterling Capital Total Return Bond R6 has 1.7% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $480 million in total assets, which is below the $3 billion average for the Intermediate Core 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.

STRDX 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 Sterling Capital Total Return Bond R6 expense ratio is below average compared to funds in the Intermediate Core Bond category. Sterling Capital Total Return Bond R6 has an expense ratio of 0.35%, which is 38% 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. Sterling Capital Total Return Bond R6 has a portfolio turnover rate of 78%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 151% for the Intermediate Core Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Sterling Capital Total Return Bond R6 returned -1.3%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Intermediate Core Bond category had an average return of -1.3%. 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.

Sterling Capital Total Return Bond R6 has a trailing yield of 4.53%, which is above the 4.04% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly.

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.

Sterling Capital Total Return Bond R6 Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned -0.7%, 0.1 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 2.7% over the past year (grade of B), 4.0% over the past three years (grade of B) and -0.2% per year over the past five years (grade of B) and 1.8% per year over the past 10 years (grade of A).

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