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Is LDLAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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On the lookout for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? Starting with Lord Abbett Short Duration Income C (LDLAX - Free Report) is one possibility. LDLAX 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

LDLAX is a part of the Lord Abbett family of funds, a company based out of Jersey City, NJ. Lord Abbett Short Duration Income C made its debut in July of 1996, and since then, LDLAX has accumulated about $1.60 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 0.98%, and is in the middle 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 -0.5%, 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 LDLAX over the past three years is 2.35% compared to the category average of 13.38%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 3.79% compared to the category average of 14.03%. This makes the fund less 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, LDLAX has a negative alpha of -0.47, 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, LDLAX 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, LDLAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.21% compared to the category average of 0.93%. LDLAX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

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 C ( LDLAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and higher fees, Lord Abbett Short Duration Income C ( LDLAX ) 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 LDLAX 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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