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Is Vanguard Industrials Index Admiral (VINAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Equity Report category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard Industrials Index Admiral (VINAX - Free Report) . While this fund is not tracked by the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we were able to examine other factors like performance, volatility, and cost.

History of Fund/Manager

VINAX is a part of the Vanguard Group family of funds, a company based out of Malvern, PA. Since Vanguard Industrials Index Admiral made its debut in September of 2004, VINAX has garnered more than $240.79 million in assets. Walter Nejman is the fund's current manager and has held that role since December of 2015.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 9%, 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 8.57%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

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 23.68%, the standard deviation of VINAX over the past three years is 22.49%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 20.51% compared to the category average of 21.28%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.16, so it is likely going to be more volatile than the market at large. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. VINAX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -5.34, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, VINAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.10% compared to the category average of 0.92%. From a cost perspective, VINAX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $100,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.

Bottom Line

Your research on the Mutual Fund Equity Report segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.


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