Having trouble finding a Government Bond - Short fund? Lord Abbett Short Duration Income A (LALDX Quick QuoteLALDX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. LALDX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We note that LALDX is a Government Bond - Short option, an area packed with various choices. Have securities issued by the United States' federal government in their portfolios. Generally, these are seen as extremely low risk from a default perspective and often regarded as risk-free. Government Bond - Short funds focus on the short end of the curve, which results in lower yields, but less sensitivity to interest rate fluctuations.

History of Fund/Manager

Lord Abbett is based in Jersey City, NJ, and is the manager of LALDX. Lord Abbett Short Duration Income A made its debut in November of 1993, and since then, LALDX has accumulated about $7.42 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.79%, 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 1.58%, 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. Compared to the category average of 13.15%, the standard deviation of LALDX over the past three years is 2.56%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 3.91% compared to the category average of 13.94%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

With a beta of 0.28, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, LALDX has a positive alpha of 0.33, 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, LALDX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.58% compared to the category average of 0.91%. From a cost perspective, LALDX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,500, investors should also note that 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 Short Duration Income A ( LALDX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, Lord Abbett Short Duration Income A ( LALDX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on LALDXin the Government Bond - Short 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.