If you have been looking for Investment Grade - Bonds: Misc funds, a place to start could be Lord Abbett Income Fund A (LAGVX Quick QuoteLAGVX - Free Report) . LAGVX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

LAGVX is one of many Investment Grade - Bonds: Misc funds to pick from. Investment Grade - Bonds: Misc funds do not focus on one particular part of the curve and can also hold a wide range of investment grade credit levels. A fund's duration risk will depend on its individual investment profile, which means funds in this category are not always directly comparable. Of course, the focus on investment grade will make these funds safer, but yields will be lower than those in the junk bond category.

History of Fund/Manager

Lord Abbett is based in Jersey City, NJ, and is the manager of LAGVX. The Lord Abbett Income Fund A made its debut in January of 1982 and LAGVX has managed to accumulate roughly $1.29 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

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 1.12%, and is 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 -1.41%, 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. Compared to the category average of 13.75%, the standard deviation of LAGVX over the past three years is 8.62%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 9.41% compared to the category average of 14.49%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

LAGVX carries a beta of 0.92, 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 2.07, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

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, LAGVX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.70% compared to the category average of 0.92%. From a cost perspective, LAGVX 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 Income Fund A ( LAGVX ) 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.

For additional information on the Investment Grade - Bonds: Misc 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 LAGVX too for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.