If investors are looking at the Mortgage - Bonds: Misc fund category, DoubleLine Low Duration Bond N (DLSNX Quick QuoteDLSNX - Free Report) could be a potential option. DLSNX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

DLSNX finds itself in the Double Line family, based out of Los Angeles, CA. The DoubleLine Low Duration Bond N made its debut in September of 2011 and DLSNX has managed to accumulate roughly $713.89 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by 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 2.14%, and is in the top 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 2.72%, 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. Compared to the category average of 10.45%, the standard deviation of DLSNX over the past three years is 1.87%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 3.01% compared to the category average of 11.2%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

DLSNX carries a beta of 0.2, 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 0.3, 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, DLSNX has 71.1% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher. The fund has an average quality of AA, and focuses on high quality securities.

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, DLSNX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.68% compared to the category average of 0.83%. From a cost perspective, DLSNX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,000; each subsequent investment needs to 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, DoubleLine Low Duration Bond N ( DLSNX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, DoubleLine Low Duration Bond N ( DLSNX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mortgage - Bonds: Misc area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into DLSNX too for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.