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Is Vanguard Wellesley Income Admiral (VWIAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Allocation Balanced fund seekers should consider taking a look at Vanguard Wellesley Income Admiral (VWIAX - Free Report) . VWIAX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

VWIAX 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

Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VWIAX. The Vanguard Wellesley Income Admiral made its debut in May of 2001 and VWIAX has managed to accumulate roughly $41.99 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. Loren Moran is the fund's current manager and has held that role since January of 2017.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 4.8%, 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 1.45%, 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. VWIAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 9.76% compared to the category average of 12.1%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 9.25% compared to the category average of 12.64%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.45, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -3.12, 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, VWIAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.16% compared to the category average of 0.81%. From a cost perspective, VWIAX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $50,000, 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 Wellesley Income Admiral ( VWIAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard Wellesley Income Admiral ( VWIAX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about VWIAX? 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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