If you have been looking for Investment Grade Bond - Short funds, a place to start could be Thompson Bond Fund (THOPX Quick QuoteTHOPX - Free Report) . THOPX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We note that THOPX is an Investment Grade Bond - Short option, which is an area loaded with different options. Investment Grade Bond - Short funds focus on the short end of the curve, generally with bonds that mature in less than two years. Fixed income instruments with this maturity level usually have low duration risk, while they also pay out small yields, at least when compared to their longer-dated peers. Additionally, the focus on investment grade will make funds here safer, but yields will be lower than in the junk bond category.

History of Fund/Manager

Thompson is based in Madison, WI, and is the manager of THOPX. The Thompson Bond Fund made its debut in February of 1992 and THOPX has managed to accumulate roughly $2.65 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Jason Stephens who has been in charge of the fund since February of 2009.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 3.6%, and it sits in the top 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 2.97%, 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. Over the past three years, THOPX's standard deviation comes in at 6.48%, compared to the category average of 2.9%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 5.04% compared to the category average of 2.37%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

With a beta of 0.25, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, THOPX has a positive alpha of 2.15, 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, THOPX has 51.75% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 42.66% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. 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, THOPX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.72% compared to the category average of 0.73%. So, THOPX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $250, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, Thompson Bond Fund ( THOPX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on THOPXin the Investment Grade Bond - Short category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.