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Is Vanguard Real Estate Index Investor (VGSIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Investors in search of a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund might want to consider looking at Vanguard Real Estate Index Investor (VGSIX - 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
VGSIX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. The Vanguard Real Estate Index Investor made its debut in May of 1996 and VGSIX has managed to accumulate roughly $106.46 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Gerard O'Reilly is the fund's current manager and has held that role since November of 2001.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. VGSIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 5.67% 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 9.66%, 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. Over the past three years, VGSIX's standard deviation comes in at 20.49%, compared to the category average of 16.85%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 20.03% compared to the category average of 16.67%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.91, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -3.78, which shows 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, VGSIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.25% compared to the category average of 0.79%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VGSIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Want even more information about VGSIX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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.
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Is Vanguard Real Estate Index Investor (VGSIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Investors in search of a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund might want to consider looking at Vanguard Real Estate Index Investor (VGSIX - 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
VGSIX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. The Vanguard Real Estate Index Investor made its debut in May of 1996 and VGSIX has managed to accumulate roughly $106.46 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Gerard O'Reilly is the fund's current manager and has held that role since November of 2001.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. VGSIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 5.67% 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 9.66%, 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. Over the past three years, VGSIX's standard deviation comes in at 20.49%, compared to the category average of 16.85%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 20.03% compared to the category average of 16.67%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.91, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -3.78, which shows 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, VGSIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.25% compared to the category average of 0.79%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VGSIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Want even more information about VGSIX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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.