Yahoo Finance Is LFRAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Bond funds, a place to start could be Lord Abbett Floating Rate A (LFRAX). LFRAX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
Lord Abbett is based in Jersey City, NJ, and is the manager of LFRAX. Lord Abbett Floating Rate A made its debut in December of 2007, and since then, LFRAX has accumulated about $1.61 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 2.67%, 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 5.64%, 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 4.01% compared to the category average of 13.3%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 7.89% compared to the category average of 14.49%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
With a beta of -0.16, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, LFRAX has a positive alpha of 1.51, 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 0.82% compared to the category average of 0.83%. From a cost perspective, LFRAX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,500 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
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.
This could just be the start of your research on LFRAXin the Mutual Fund Bond category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Get Your Free (LFRAX): Fund Analysis Report
