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If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Bond funds, consider Lord Abbett Short Duration Income F (LDLFX) as a possibility. LDLFX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
Lord Abbett is based in Jersey City, NJ, and is the manager of LDLFX. Lord Abbett Short Duration Income F debuted in September of 2007. Since then, LDLFX has accumulated assets of about $1.51 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.47%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3 -year annualized total return of -0.02%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. Compared to the category average of 13.16%, the standard deviation of LDLFX over the past three years is 2.3%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 3.78% compared to the category average of 14.09%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
With a beta of 0.26, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, LDLFX has a positive alpha of 0.33, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
Ratings
Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, LDLFX has 37.62% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 52.88% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of A, and focuses on high quality securities.
Expenses
For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, LDLFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.21% compared to the category average of 0.64%. LDLFX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.