Any investors who are searching for Sector - Health funds should take a look at Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral (VHCIX Quick QuoteVHCIX - Free Report) . VHCIX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.

Objective

We note that VHCIX is a Sector - Health fund, and this area is also loaded with various options. Sector - Health mutual funds give investors an opportunity to focus on one of the largest sectors of the American economy, healthcare. Funds in this category can include everything from for-profit hospitals to pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers.

History of Fund/Manager

VHCIX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Health Care Index Admiral made its debut in January of 2004, and since then, VHCIX has accumulated about $1.35 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Walter Nejman who has been in charge of the fund since December of 2015.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 10.74%, and it sits in the top 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 9.39%, 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. Compared to the category average of 17.23%, the standard deviation of VHCIX over the past three years is 13.96%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 14.07% compared to the category average of 17.67%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

One cannot ignore the volatility of this segment, however, as it is always important for investors to remember the downside to any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, VHCIX lost 34.75% and underperformed its peer group by 2%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.

Even still, the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.94, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 0.34, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, VHCIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.10% compared to the category average of 1.28%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VHCIX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $100,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.

Bottom Line

For additional information on the Sector - Health 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 VHCIX too for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.