If you have been looking for Investment Grade Bond - Short fund category, a potential starting could be Pioneer Floating Rate A (FLARX Quick QuoteFLARX - Free Report) . FLARX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We note that FLARX 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

Amundi US is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FLARX. Pioneer Floating Rate A debuted in February of 2007. Since then, FLARX has accumulated assets of about $68.21 million, according to the most recently available information. Jonathan Sharkey is the fund's current manager and has held that role since February of 2007.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.09%, and is in the bottom 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 4.7%, which places it in the bottom 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. FLARX's standard deviation over the past three years is 3.96% compared to the category average of 10.78%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 6.61% compared to the category average of 12.42%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of -0.18, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, FLARX has a positive alpha of 2.47, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

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, FLARX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.05% compared to the category average of 0.99%. So, FLARX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $100.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Overall, even with its comparatively weak performance, better downside risk, and higher fees, Pioneer Floating Rate A ( FLARX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Your research on the Investment Grade Bond - Short 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.