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Is Vanguard Capital Value Investor (VCVLX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Having trouble finding a Mid Cap Value fund? Vanguard Capital Value Investor is a potential starting point. VCVLX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We classify VCVLX in the Mid Cap Value category, an area rife with potential choices. Mid Cap Value mutual funds aim to target medium-sized companies that possess strong value and income opportunities for investors. A mid-cap company usually holds a market capitalization of between $2 billion and $10 billion.

History of Fund/Manager

Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VCVLX. Vanguard Capital Value Investor debuted in December of 2001. Since then, VCVLX has accumulated assets of about $741.10 million, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, David W. Palmer, has been in charge of the fund since December of 2009.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of -0.8%, and is in the bottom 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 5.22%, 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. Compared to the category average of 13.09%, the standard deviation of VCVLX over the past three years is 14.14%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.32% compared to the category average of 13.29%. 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, VCVLX lost 62.68% and underperformed its peer group by 11.13%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.

Nevertheless, investors should also note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.22, 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. With a negative alpha of -10.83, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Investigating 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 primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.

This fund is currently holding about 87.49% stock in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $57.90 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Technology
  2. Finance
Turnover is 92%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.

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, VCVLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.28% compared to the category average of 1.14%. From a cost perspective, VCVLX is actually cheaper than its peers.

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

Overall, Vanguard Capital Value Investor ( VCVLX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.

This could just be the start of your research on VCVLXin the Mid Cap Value 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. 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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