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Is Vanguard Total International Stock Index AD (VTIAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Are you on the hunt for an Index fund? You should think about starting with Vanguard Total International Stock Index AD (VTIAX - Free Report) . VTIAX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.
Objective
History of Fund/Manager
VTIAX is a part of the Vanguard Group family of funds, a company based out of Malvern, PA. Since Vanguard Total International Stock Index AD made its debut in November of 2010, VTIAX has garnered more than $71.46 billion in assets. Michael Perre is the fund's current manager and has held that role since November of 2010.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. VTIAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 5.96% 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 6.46%, 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. Over the past three years, VTIAX's standard deviation comes in at 11.45%, compared to the category average of 8.79%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 11.19% compared to the category average of 8.68%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of.
Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. VTIAX has a 5-year beta of 0.91, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -5.15, which shows 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, VTIAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.11% compared to the category average of 0.85%. So, VTIAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $10,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Bottom Line
Don't stop here for your research on Index funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare VTIAX to its peers as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.
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Is Vanguard Total International Stock Index AD (VTIAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Are you on the hunt for an Index fund? You should think about starting with Vanguard Total International Stock Index AD (VTIAX - Free Report) . VTIAX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.
Objective
History of Fund/Manager
VTIAX is a part of the Vanguard Group family of funds, a company based out of Malvern, PA. Since Vanguard Total International Stock Index AD made its debut in November of 2010, VTIAX has garnered more than $71.46 billion in assets. Michael Perre is the fund's current manager and has held that role since November of 2010.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. VTIAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 5.96% 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 6.46%, 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. Over the past three years, VTIAX's standard deviation comes in at 11.45%, compared to the category average of 8.79%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 11.19% compared to the category average of 8.68%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of.
Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. VTIAX has a 5-year beta of 0.91, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -5.15, which shows 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, VTIAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.11% compared to the category average of 0.85%. So, VTIAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $10,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Bottom Line
Don't stop here for your research on Index funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare VTIAX to its peers as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.