If investors are looking at the Allocation Balanced fund category, Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund (DODBX Quick QuoteDODBX - Free Report) could be a potential option. DODBX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

DODBX is classified in the Allocation Balanced segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Here, investors are able to get a good head start with diversified mutual funds, and play around with core holding options for a portfolio of funds. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation.

History of Fund/Manager

Dodge & Cox is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of DODBX. Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund made its debut in December of 1967, and since then, DODBX has accumulated about $14.11 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. 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. DODBX has a 5-year annualized total return of 12.46% and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 9.01%, which places it in the bottom third during this time-frame.

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. The standard deviation of DODBX over the past three years is 16.25% compared to the category average of 12.86%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 13.26% compared to the category average of 10.44%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.82, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. DODBX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -1.22, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, DODBX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.53% compared to the category average of 0.89%. From a cost perspective, DODBX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund ( DODBX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund ( DODBX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Allocation Balanced, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.