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Is Vanguard Total International Stock Index AD (VTIAX) 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 Total International Stock Index AD (VTIAX - 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
VTIAX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Total International Stock Index AD debuted in November of 2010. Since then, VTIAX has accumulated assets of about $70.44 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Michael Perre who has been in charge of the fund since November of 2010.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.63%, 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 4.42%, 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. The standard deviation of VTIAX over the past three years is 20.73% compared to the category average of 18.14%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 18.01% compared to the category average of 15.73%. 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 0.84, which means it is hypothetically less 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -5.97. This means 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, VTIAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.11% compared to the category average of 0.78%. VTIAX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $3,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.
Bottom Line
For additional information on the Mutual Fund Equity Report area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into VTIAX too 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 International Stock Index AD (VTIAX) 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 Total International Stock Index AD (VTIAX - 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
VTIAX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Total International Stock Index AD debuted in November of 2010. Since then, VTIAX has accumulated assets of about $70.44 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Michael Perre who has been in charge of the fund since November of 2010.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.63%, 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 4.42%, 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. The standard deviation of VTIAX over the past three years is 20.73% compared to the category average of 18.14%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 18.01% compared to the category average of 15.73%. 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 0.84, which means it is hypothetically less 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -5.97. This means 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, VTIAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.11% compared to the category average of 0.78%. VTIAX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $3,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.
Bottom Line
For additional information on the Mutual Fund Equity Report area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into VTIAX too 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.