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Is Vanguard Growth & Income Admiral (VGIAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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If you have been looking for Large Cap Blend funds, a place to start could be Vanguard Growth & Income Admiral (VGIAX - Free Report) . VGIAX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
VGIAX is classified in the Large Cap Blend segment by Zacks, which is an area full of potential. Targeting companies with market caps of more than $10 billion, Large Cap Blend mutual funds offer a stable investment choice; these funds are perfect for investors with a " buy and hold " mindset. Since blended funds mix large, more established firms into their portfolios, investors are exposed to both value and growth opportunities.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is responsible for VGIAX, and the company is based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Growth & Income Admiral debuted in May of 2001. Since then, VGIAX has accumulated assets of about $7.27 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 8.5%, 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 8.9%, 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 VGIAX over the past three years is 11.22% compared to the category average of 10.31%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 10.95% compared to the category average of 10.22%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, VGIAX lost 51.87% and underperformed comparable funds by 2.55%. This might suggest that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a bear market.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.99, the fund is likely to be as volatile as 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. With a positive alpha of 0.07, managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Exploring the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is largely on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 86.57% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $235.49 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Finance
With turnover at about 83%, this fund makes more trades in a given year than the average of comparable funds.
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, VGIAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.23% compared to the category average of 0.96%. So, VGIAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $50,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $1.
Bottom Line
Overall, Vanguard Growth & Income Admiral ( VGIAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Large Cap Blend 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 VGIAX to its peers 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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Is Vanguard Growth & Income Admiral (VGIAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you have been looking for Large Cap Blend funds, a place to start could be Vanguard Growth & Income Admiral (VGIAX - Free Report) . VGIAX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
VGIAX is classified in the Large Cap Blend segment by Zacks, which is an area full of potential. Targeting companies with market caps of more than $10 billion, Large Cap Blend mutual funds offer a stable investment choice; these funds are perfect for investors with a " buy and hold " mindset. Since blended funds mix large, more established firms into their portfolios, investors are exposed to both value and growth opportunities.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is responsible for VGIAX, and the company is based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Growth & Income Admiral debuted in May of 2001. Since then, VGIAX has accumulated assets of about $7.27 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 8.5%, 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 8.9%, 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 VGIAX over the past three years is 11.22% compared to the category average of 10.31%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 10.95% compared to the category average of 10.22%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, VGIAX lost 51.87% and underperformed comparable funds by 2.55%. This might suggest that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a bear market.
Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.99, the fund is likely to be as volatile as 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. With a positive alpha of 0.07, managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Exploring the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is largely on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 86.57% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $235.49 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Finance
With turnover at about 83%, this fund makes more trades in a given year than the average of comparable funds.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, VGIAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.23% compared to the category average of 0.96%. So, VGIAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $50,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $1.
Bottom Line
Overall, Vanguard Growth & Income Admiral ( VGIAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Large Cap Blend 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 VGIAX to its peers 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.