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Is Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Index Admiral (VMGMX) 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 Mid-Cap Growth Index Admiral (VMGMX - Free Report) . VMGMX 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 VMGMX. Since Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Index Admiral made its debut in September of 2011, VMGMX has garnered more than $9.62 billion in assets. The fund's current manager, Donald Butler, has been in charge of the fund since February of 2013.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 10.98%, 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 11.43%, 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. Over the past three years, VMGMX's standard deviation comes in at 22.14%, compared to the category average of 19.24%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 19.57% compared to the category average of 16.96%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.11, which means it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. VMGMX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -2.92, which means 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, VMGMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.07% compared to the category average of 0.78%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VMGMX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $3,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.

Bottom Line

Your research on the Mutual Fund Equity Report segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.


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