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Is Vanguard Small-Cap Index Investor (NAESX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Looking for an Index fund? You may want to consider Vanguard Small-Cap Index Investor (NAESX - Free Report) as a possible option. NAESX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of NAESX. Since Vanguard Small-Cap Index Investor made its debut in March of 1975, NAESX has garnered more than $718.90 million in assets. William A. Coleman is the fund's current manager and has held that role since April of 2016.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 8.48%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 9.49%, 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. NAESX's standard deviation over the past three years is 15.77% compared to the category average of 9.05%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 14.65% compared to the category average of 9.32%. 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, NAESX lost 53.25% and underperformed its peer group by 10%. These results could imply that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Even still, the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.11, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more 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. NAESX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.86, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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.
Currently, this mutual fund is holding 91.73% stock in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $4.97 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Finance
Technology
Industrial Cyclical
Other
This fund's turnover is about 32%, so the fund managers are making fewer trades than the average comparable fund.
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, NAESX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.17% compared to the category average of 0.86%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, NAESX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $3,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Bottom Line
Want even more information about NAESX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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 Small-Cap Index Investor (NAESX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Looking for an Index fund? You may want to consider Vanguard Small-Cap Index Investor (NAESX - Free Report) as a possible option. NAESX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of NAESX. Since Vanguard Small-Cap Index Investor made its debut in March of 1975, NAESX has garnered more than $718.90 million in assets. William A. Coleman is the fund's current manager and has held that role since April of 2016.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 8.48%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 9.49%, 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. NAESX's standard deviation over the past three years is 15.77% compared to the category average of 9.05%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 14.65% compared to the category average of 9.32%. 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, NAESX lost 53.25% and underperformed its peer group by 10%. These results could imply that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.
Even still, the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.11, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more 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. NAESX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -2.86, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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.
Currently, this mutual fund is holding 91.73% stock in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $4.97 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Finance
- Technology
- Industrial Cyclical
- Other
This fund's turnover is about 32%, so the fund managers are making fewer trades than the average comparable fund.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, NAESX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.17% compared to the category average of 0.86%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, NAESX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $3,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Bottom Line
Want even more information about NAESX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis 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.