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Is Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Investor (VEIEX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Have you been searching for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You might want to begin with Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Investor (VEIEX - Free Report) . The fund does not have a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, though we have been able to explore other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.

History of Fund/Manager

Vanguard Group is responsible for VEIEX, and the company is based out of Malvern, PA. The Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Investor made its debut in May of 1994 and VEIEX has managed to accumulate roughly $137.09 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Michael Perre, has been in charge of the fund since August of 2008.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. VEIEX has a 5-year annualized total return of 8.3% and is in the middle 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 8.81%, which places it in the middle 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. VEIEX's standard deviation over the past three years is 17.62% compared to the category average of 15.6%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 16.16% compared to the category average of 13.73%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.76, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. With a negative alpha of -3.69, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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, VEIEX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.29% compared to the category average of 1.16%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VEIEX 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 VEIEXin the Mutual Fund Equity Report 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.


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