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Is DBLTX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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Having trouble finding a Mutual Fund Bond fund? DoubleLine Total Return Bond I (DBLTX - Free Report) is a possible starting point. DBLTX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Double Line is based in Los Angeles, CA, and is the manager of DBLTX. DoubleLine Total Return Bond I made its debut in April of 2010, and since then, DBLTX has accumulated about $27.81 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of -0.74%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of -3.83%, which places it in the middle 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 DBLTX over the past three years is 5.08% compared to the category average of 13.24%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 4.27% compared to the category average of 11.53%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

DBLTX carries a beta of 0.78, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a negative alpha of -0.56, 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, DBLTX has 64.96% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher. The fund has an average quality of AA, 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, DBLTX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.48% compared to the category average of 0.77%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, DBLTX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $100,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, DoubleLine Total Return Bond I ( DBLTX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, DoubleLine Total Return Bond I ( DBLTX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Bond area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into DBLTX too for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.


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