If you've been stuck searching for Government - Bonds: Misc funds, consider Lord Abbett Floating Rate A (LFRAX Quick QuoteLFRAX - Free Report) as a possibility. LFRAX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We classify LFRAX in the Government - Bonds: Misc category, an area rife with potential choices. Government - Bonds: Misc funds hold securities issued by the federal government of the United States of America. These are seen as extremely low risk securities from a default perspective, and are often regarded as risk-free assets. This category stretches across the curve, so the yields and interest rate sensitivity will vary, though a mixed approach generally results in a medium yield and risk profile.

History of Fund/Manager

LFRAX finds itself in the Lord Abbett family, based out of Jersey City, NJ. Since Lord Abbett Floating Rate A made its debut in December of 2007, LFRAX has garnered more than $1.57 billion in assets. 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. LFRAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 3.89% and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 5.34%, 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. Over the past three years, LFRAX's standard deviation comes in at 3.74%, compared to the category average of 13.21%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 7.73% compared to the category average of 14.39%. 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 2.48, 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, LFRAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.80% compared to the category average of 0.97%. LFRAX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

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 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, Lord Abbett Floating Rate A ( LFRAX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.

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