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Is Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral (VHCIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Equity Report category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral (VHCIX - Free Report) . While this fund is not tracked by the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we were able to examine other factors like performance, volatility, and cost.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VHCIX. Since Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral made its debut in January of 2004, VHCIX has garnered more than $2.83 billion in assets. Walter Nejman is the fund's current manager and has held that role since December of 2015.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. VHCIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 15.19% and is in the top 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 14.76%, which places it in the top 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. The standard deviation of VHCIX over the past three years is 15.95% compared to the category average of 17.98%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 15.29% compared to the category average of 17.17%. 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 0.82, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. VHCIX's 5-year performance has produced a positive alpha of 1.36, which means managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, VHCIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.10% compared to the category average of 1.30%. From a cost perspective, VHCIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $100,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $1.
Bottom Line
Want even more information about VHCIX? 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 Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral (VHCIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Equity Report category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral (VHCIX - Free Report) . While this fund is not tracked by the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we were able to examine other factors like performance, volatility, and cost.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VHCIX. Since Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral made its debut in January of 2004, VHCIX has garnered more than $2.83 billion in assets. Walter Nejman is the fund's current manager and has held that role since December of 2015.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. VHCIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 15.19% and is in the top 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 14.76%, which places it in the top 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. The standard deviation of VHCIX over the past three years is 15.95% compared to the category average of 17.98%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 15.29% compared to the category average of 17.17%. 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 0.82, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. 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. VHCIX's 5-year performance has produced a positive alpha of 1.36, which means managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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, VHCIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.10% compared to the category average of 1.30%. From a cost perspective, VHCIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $100,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $1.
Bottom Line
Want even more information about VHCIX? 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.