Have you been searching for a Diversified Bonds fund? You might want to begin with Putnam Diversified Income A (PDINX Quick QuotePDINX - Free Report) . PDINX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We classify PDINX in the Diversified Bonds category, an area that is rife with potential choices.Diversified Bonds funds offer exposure to a wide variety of fixed income types, stretching across various issuers, credit levels, and maturities. Generally speaking, bond funds here will have sizable exposure to government debt, as well as modest holdings in the corporate bond market too.

History of Fund/Manager

Franklin is based in San Mateo, CA, and is the manager of PDINX. Putnam Diversified Income A debuted in October of 1988. Since then, PDINX has accumulated assets of about $483.74 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 2.27%, and is in the middle 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 6.83%, which places it in the middle 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. Over the past three years, PDINX's standard deviation comes in at 4.61%, compared to the category average of 9.82%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 4.71% compared to the category average of 11.66%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Bond Duration

Modified duration is a measure of a given bond's interest rate sensitivity, so when judging how fixed income securities will respond in a shifting rate environment, it is an excellent figure to look at.

For those that believe interest rates will rise, this is an important factor to consider. PDINX has a modified duration of 3.45, which suggests that the fund will decline 3.45% for every hundred-basis-point increase in interest rates.

Income

Since income is, of course, a big reason for purchasing a fixed income security, it is always important to consider the fund's average coupon. This metric takes a look at the average payout by the fund in a given year. For example, this fund's average coupon of 5.41% means that a $10,000 investment should result in a yearly payout of $541.

While a higher coupon is good for when you want a strong level of current income, it could present a reinvestment risk if rates are lower in the future when compared to the initial purchase date of the bond. Since income is just one part of the bond picture, investors need to consider risk relative to broad benchmarks.

PDINX carries a beta of 0.7, 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 0.93, 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, PDINX has 22.86% in medium quality bonds, with ratings of "A" to "BBB". The fund's junk bond component-bonds rated "BB" or below-is at 32.66%, giving PDINX an average quality of BBB. This means that it focuses on medium quality securities.

However, it is worth noting that 30% of the bonds in this fund are not ranked, so take the average quality level with a bit of caution.

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, PDINX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.96% compared to the category average of 0.93%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, PDINX is actually more expensive than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $500; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

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

Bottom Line

Overall, Putnam Diversified Income A ( PDINX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and higher fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Diversified Bonds, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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.