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Is Vanguard Target Retirement 2030 Fund (VTHRX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Any investors who are searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds should take a look at Vanguard Target Retirement 2030 Fund (VTHRX - 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 based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VTHRX. Vanguard Target Retirement 2030 Fund made its debut in June of 2006, and since then, VTHRX has accumulated about $81.08 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 5%, and it sits in the top 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 5.62%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.

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, VTHRX's standard deviation comes in at 12.74%, compared to the category average of 12.55%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 13.05% compared to the category average of 12.88%. 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 0.68, 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 -2.99. This means that 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, VTHRX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.08% compared to the category average of 0.47%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VTHRX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $1

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

This could just be the start of your research on VTHRXin 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. 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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