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Is LDLFX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Bond funds, consider Lord Abbett Short Duration Income F (LDLFX - Free Report) as a possibility. LDLFX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine 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. The Lord Abbett Short Duration Income F made its debut in September of 2007 and LDLFX has managed to accumulate roughly $6.31 billion in assets, as of 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 in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 0.88%, and it sits in the top 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 -0.62%, 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. Compared to the category average of 15.14%, the standard deviation of LDLFX over the past three years is 4.71%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 3.69% compared to the category average of 13.29%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

LDLFX carries a beta of 0.2, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 0.38, 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 43.47% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 41.9% 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

Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, LDLFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.48% compared to the category average of 0.65%. LDLFX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Lord Abbett Short Duration Income F ( LDLFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Bond funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare LDLFX to its peers 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.


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