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Is Vanguard Extended Market Index Admiral (VEXAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you've been stuck searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds, consider Vanguard Extended Market Index Admiral (VEXAX - Free Report) as a possibility. VEXAX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.

History of Fund/Manager

VEXAX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. The Vanguard Extended Market Index Admiral made its debut in November of 2000 and VEXAX has managed to accumulate roughly $20.44 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Donald Butler who has been in charge of the fund since November of 2000.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.64%, and it sits 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 7.82%, which places it in the bottom 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. VEXAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 21.88% compared to the category average of 18.45%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 23.91% compared to the category average of 16.36%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. VEXAX has a 5-year beta of 1.18, which means it is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -6.54. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Exploring the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.

Right now, 94.97% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $9.90 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  • Finance
  • Technology
  • Industrial Cyclical
Turnover is about 11%, so those in charge of the fund make fewer trades than comparable funds.

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, VEXAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.06% compared to the category average of 0.97%. So, VEXAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $3,000; 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 want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.


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