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Is Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral (VHCIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Looking for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You may want to consider Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral (VHCIX - Free Report) as a possible option. 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
VHCIX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral debuted in January of 2004. Since then, VHCIX has accumulated assets of about $2.90 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Walter Nejman, has been in charge of the fund since December of 2015.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. VHCIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 9.58% 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 8.3%, 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. The standard deviation of VHCIX over the past three years is 14.71% compared to the category average of 17.04%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 16.26% compared to the category average of 18.78%. This makes the fund less 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. VHCIX has a 5-year beta of 0.72, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. With a positive alpha of 0.42, managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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, VHCIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.10% compared to the category average of 1.28%. From a cost perspective, VHCIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $100,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Want even more information about VHCIX? 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. 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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Is Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral (VHCIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Looking for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You may want to consider Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral (VHCIX - Free Report) as a possible option. 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
VHCIX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral debuted in January of 2004. Since then, VHCIX has accumulated assets of about $2.90 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Walter Nejman, has been in charge of the fund since December of 2015.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. VHCIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 9.58% 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 8.3%, 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. The standard deviation of VHCIX over the past three years is 14.71% compared to the category average of 17.04%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 16.26% compared to the category average of 18.78%. This makes the fund less 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. VHCIX has a 5-year beta of 0.72, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. With a positive alpha of 0.42, managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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, VHCIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.10% compared to the category average of 1.28%. From a cost perspective, VHCIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $100,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Want even more information about VHCIX? 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. 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.