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Is Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Admiral (VBTLX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Looking for an Index fund? You may want to consider Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Admiral (VBTLX - Free Report) as a possible option. VBTLX 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
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VBTLX. Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Admiral made its debut in November of 2001, and since then, VBTLX has accumulated about $118.89 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Joshua Barrickman, has been in charge of the fund since February of 2013.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 3.54%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 5.33%, 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. Over the past three years, VBTLX's standard deviation comes in at 3.48%, compared to the category average of 15.32%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 3.35% compared to the category average of 12.83%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 1.04, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. VBTLX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.11, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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, VBTLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.05% compared to the category average of 0.80%. From a cost perspective, VBTLX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $3,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $1.
Bottom Line
This could just be the start of your research on VBTLXin the Index 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. 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 Total Bond Market Index Admiral (VBTLX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Looking for an Index fund? You may want to consider Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Admiral (VBTLX - Free Report) as a possible option. VBTLX 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
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VBTLX. Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Admiral made its debut in November of 2001, and since then, VBTLX has accumulated about $118.89 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Joshua Barrickman, has been in charge of the fund since February of 2013.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 3.54%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 5.33%, 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. Over the past three years, VBTLX's standard deviation comes in at 3.48%, compared to the category average of 15.32%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 3.35% compared to the category average of 12.83%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 1.04, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. VBTLX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.11, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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, VBTLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.05% compared to the category average of 0.80%. From a cost perspective, VBTLX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $3,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $1.
Bottom Line
This could just be the start of your research on VBTLXin the Index 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. 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.