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Is Value Line Income & Growth Investor (VALIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you've been stuck searching for Allocation Balanced funds, consider Value Line Income & Growth Investor (VALIX - Free Report) as a possibility. VALIX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
VALIX is classified in the Allocation Balanced segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Here, investors are able to get a good head start with diversified mutual funds, and play around with core holding options for a portfolio of funds. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation.
History of Fund/Manager
Value Line is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of VALIX. Value Line Income & Growth Investor made its debut in October of 1952, and since then, VALIX has accumulated about $371.32 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Liane Rosenberg is the fund's current manager and has held that role since May of 2011.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. VALIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 9.69% and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 2.64%, which places it in the bottom 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. VALIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 19.45% compared to the category average of 13.25%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 20.09% compared to the category average of 13.98%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1, so it is likely going to be as volatile as 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 -4.41, 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, VALIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.10% compared to the category average of 0.88%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VALIX is actually more expensive than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Value Line Income & Growth Investor ( VALIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on VALIXin the Allocation Balanced category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.
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Is Value Line Income & Growth Investor (VALIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you've been stuck searching for Allocation Balanced funds, consider Value Line Income & Growth Investor (VALIX - Free Report) as a possibility. VALIX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
VALIX is classified in the Allocation Balanced segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Here, investors are able to get a good head start with diversified mutual funds, and play around with core holding options for a portfolio of funds. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation.
History of Fund/Manager
Value Line is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of VALIX. Value Line Income & Growth Investor made its debut in October of 1952, and since then, VALIX has accumulated about $371.32 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Liane Rosenberg is the fund's current manager and has held that role since May of 2011.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. VALIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 9.69% and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 2.64%, which places it in the bottom 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. VALIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 19.45% compared to the category average of 13.25%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 20.09% compared to the category average of 13.98%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1, so it is likely going to be as volatile as 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 -4.41, 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, VALIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.10% compared to the category average of 0.88%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VALIX is actually more expensive than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and higher fees, Value Line Income & Growth Investor ( VALIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a good potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on VALIXin the Allocation Balanced category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.