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Is LFRAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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On the lookout for a Government - Bonds: Misc fund? Starting with Lord Abbett Floating Rate A (LFRAX - Free Report) is one possibility. LFRAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

LFRAX is one of many Government - Bonds: Misc funds to choose from. In their portfolios, Government - Bonds: Misc funds hold securities issued by the United States' federal government, which are often seen as risk-free assets and described as extremely low-risk from a default perspective. While a mixed approach usually results in a medium yield and risk profile, this fund category focuses across the curve, meaning the yields and interest rate sensitivity will vary.

History of Fund/Manager

Lord Abbett is based in Jersey City, NJ, and is the manager of LFRAX. The Lord Abbett Floating Rate A made its debut in December of 2007 and LFRAX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.51 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. LFRAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 4.21% and it sits 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 5.7%, 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. LFRAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 3.69% compared to the category average of 13.32%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 7.69% compared to the category average of 14.29%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of -0.16, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, LFRAX has a positive alpha of 2.59, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

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, LFRAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.80% compared to the category average of 0.96%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, LFRAX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,500, while 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 Floating Rate A ( LFRAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.

Your research on the Government - Bonds: Misc segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer 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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