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There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Bond category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Lord Abbett Short Duration Income A (LALDX - Free Report) . LALDX 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
LALDX is a part of the Lord Abbett family of funds, a company based out of Jersey City, NJ. The Lord Abbett Short Duration Income A made its debut in November of 1993 and LALDX has managed to accumulate roughly $7.75 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.36%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of -0.06%, 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. The standard deviation of LALDX over the past three years is 2.32% compared to the category average of 13.38%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 3.83% compared to the category average of 14.03%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
This fund has a beta of 0.24, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, LALDX has a positive alpha of 0.25, 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, LALDX 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
As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, LALDX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.59% compared to the category average of 0.93%. So, LALDX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,500; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Lord Abbett Short Duration Income A ( LALDX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, Lord Abbett Short Duration Income A ( LALDX ) looks like a good potential 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 LALDX 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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Is LALDX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Bond category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Lord Abbett Short Duration Income A (LALDX - Free Report) . LALDX 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
LALDX is a part of the Lord Abbett family of funds, a company based out of Jersey City, NJ. The Lord Abbett Short Duration Income A made its debut in November of 1993 and LALDX has managed to accumulate roughly $7.75 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.36%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of -0.06%, 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. The standard deviation of LALDX over the past three years is 2.32% compared to the category average of 13.38%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 3.83% compared to the category average of 14.03%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
This fund has a beta of 0.24, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, LALDX has a positive alpha of 0.25, 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, LALDX 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
As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, LALDX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.59% compared to the category average of 0.93%. So, LALDX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,500; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Lord Abbett Short Duration Income A ( LALDX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, Lord Abbett Short Duration Income A ( LALDX ) looks like a good potential 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 LALDX 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.