American Funds Short-Term Tax Exempt Bond Fund (ASTEX) Sharpe Ratio: 1.84

ASTEX's Sharpe Ratio of 1.84 indicates that for each unit of volatility, it generates 1.84 units of excess return above the risk-free rate. The ratio is calculated using historical daily returns over the past 12 months (as of Apr 2, 2026).

Sharpe uses total volatility (standard deviation) which includes both upside and downside price movements, making it useful for comparing risk-adjusted returns across different assets.

ASTEX Sharpe Ratio Rank

Exceptional

ASTEX ranks above 88.6% of all investments in our database based on Sharpe Ratio over the past 12 months, demonstrating exceptional risk-adjusted returns. Securities are ranked from 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

What moves the rank

Strong returns with low total volatility → Higher rank
High volatility (both upside and downside) → Lower rank
Consistent returns → Higher rank than volatile returns of same magnitude
Sharp drawdowns increase volatility → Lower rank

What you can do with this information

Suitable as a core holding given strong risk-adjusted returns
Monitor rank changes to detect deteriorating return-to-volatility profile
Exceptional Sharpe ratio supports larger position sizes
Compare with category peers to assess whether strength is investment-specific or category-wide

ASTEX Sharpe Ratio Market Positioning

The chart shows ASTEX's Sharpe Ratio relative to all mutual funds on our platform, with color zones indicating percentile rankings. Higher ratios indicate better risk-adjusted returns.

Red zone (bottom 25%): 0.76 or lower
Yellow zone (middle 50%): 0.76 to 1.49
Green zone (top 25%): 1.49 or higher
Top 1%: 3.51+
Median: 1.10 — half of all investments score higher

How it compares to other similar mutual funds

The table compares American Funds Short-Term Tax Exempt Bond Fund's Sharpe Ratio with other mutual funds in the Municipal Bonds category across multiple time periods, showing how ASTEX's risk-adjusted performance compares to similar funds.

Data shows 1-, 5-, and 10-year periods, plus each fund's all-time average, as of Apr 2, 2026.

Symbol	Name	1Y Sharpe Ratio
DFABX	DFA Short-Term Selective State Municipal Bond Portfolio	3.90
USMTX	JPMorgan Ultra-Short Municipal Fund	3.86
DFSMX	DFA Short Term Municipal Bond Portfolio	3.68
USMSX	JPMorgan Ultra-Short Municipal Fund	3.63
DFCMX	DFA California Short Term Municipal Bond Portfolio	3.45
BATVX	BlackRock Allocation Target Shares	3.40
ATOIX	abrdn Ultra Short Municipal Income Fund	3.34
DNYMX	DFA NY Municipal Bond Portfolio	3.14
TFCYX	SEI Institutional Managed Trust Tax-Free Conservative Income Fund	3.02
PRMDX	T. Rowe Price Maryland Short-Term Tax-Free Bond Fund	3.00
ASTEX	American Funds Short-Term Tax Exempt Bond Fund	1.84

Benchmark Against

Benchmark

S&P 500 Index

Lookback Period

How to choose period

Historical Sharpe Ratio

The chart shows ASTEX's rolling Sharpe ratio over time compared to your chosen benchmark. Rising trends indicate improving returns relative to total volatility, while declining trends may signal deteriorating risk-adjusted performance or increased volatility. Use multiple timeframes to distinguish short-term fluctuations from long-term patterns.

Identify market cycles by observing when ASTEX consistently outperforms (line above benchmark), underperforms (below benchmark), or aligns with the benchmark.

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Explore ASTEX risk-adjusted metrics in detail

Dive deeper into individual metrics with historical trends, benchmark comparisons, and performance across different time periods.

ASTEX Sortino Ratio