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If you have been looking for High Yield - Bonds fund category, a potential starting could be Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Investor (VWEHX - Free Report) . VWEHX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We note that VWEHX is a High Yield - Bonds option, which is an area loaded with different investment choices. High Yield - Bonds funds are often known as " junk " bonds since they are below investment grade. This means they are at an elevated risk of default, at least when compared to their investment grade peers. On the plus side, junk bonds generally pay out higher yields, all while posing similar interest rate risks as we see with their investment grade counterparts.
History of Fund/Manager
VWEHX is a part of the Vanguard Group family of funds, a company based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Investor debuted in December of 1978. Since then, VWEHX has accumulated assets of about $2.96 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Michael Chang who has been in charge of the fund since August of 2022.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. VWEHX has a 5-year annualized total return of 3.39% and it sits 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 1.67%, which places it in the middle 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. Compared to the category average of 10.87%, the standard deviation of VWEHX over the past three years is 8.17%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 8.56% compared to the category average of 12.03%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
VWEHX carries a beta of 0.3, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 3.54, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
Ratings
Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, VWEHX 's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 87%. This means that the fund has an average quality of BBB, and focuses on medium quality securities.
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, VWEHX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.22% compared to the category average of 0.93%. VWEHX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $3,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to 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
Overall, Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Investor ( VWEHX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Investor ( VWEHX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about VWEHX? 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 VWEHX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
If you have been looking for High Yield - Bonds fund category, a potential starting could be Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Investor (VWEHX - Free Report) . VWEHX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We note that VWEHX is a High Yield - Bonds option, which is an area loaded with different investment choices. High Yield - Bonds funds are often known as " junk " bonds since they are below investment grade. This means they are at an elevated risk of default, at least when compared to their investment grade peers. On the plus side, junk bonds generally pay out higher yields, all while posing similar interest rate risks as we see with their investment grade counterparts.
History of Fund/Manager
VWEHX is a part of the Vanguard Group family of funds, a company based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Investor debuted in December of 1978. Since then, VWEHX has accumulated assets of about $2.96 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Michael Chang who has been in charge of the fund since August of 2022.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. VWEHX has a 5-year annualized total return of 3.39% and it sits 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 1.67%, which places it in the middle 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. Compared to the category average of 10.87%, the standard deviation of VWEHX over the past three years is 8.17%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 8.56% compared to the category average of 12.03%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
VWEHX carries a beta of 0.3, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 3.54, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
Ratings
Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, VWEHX 's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 87%. This means that the fund has an average quality of BBB, and focuses on medium quality securities.
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, VWEHX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.22% compared to the category average of 0.93%. VWEHX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $3,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to 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
Overall, Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Investor ( VWEHX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Investor ( VWEHX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about VWEHX? 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.