Any investors hoping to find a Large Cap Growth fund could think about starting with Vanguard Tax-Managed Cap Appreciation Admiral (VTCLX Quick QuoteVTCLX - Free Report) . VTCLX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

VTCLX is classified in the Large Cap Growth segment by Zacks, an area full of possibilities. Companies are usually considered to be large-cap if their stock market valuation is more than $10 billion. Large Cap Growth mutual funds invest in many large U.S. firms that are projected to grow at a faster rate than their large-cap peers.

History of Fund/Manager

VTCLX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. The Vanguard Tax-Managed Cap Appreciation Admiral made its debut in November of 2001 and VTCLX has managed to accumulate roughly $9.89 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. William A. Coleman is the fund's current manager and has held that role since April of 2016.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. VTCLX has a 5-year annualized total return of 10.75% and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 15%, 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. VTCLX's standard deviation over the past three years is 12.22% compared to the category average of 11.77%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 12.05% compared to the category average of 11.57%. 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. In the most recent bear market, VTCLX lost 50.73% and underperformed its peer group by 2%. This might suggest that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a bear market.

Even still, the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.01, so investors should note that it is hypothetically as volatile as 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. VTCLX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -0.09, which means 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 89.25% stock in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $192.05 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

1. Technology
2. Finance

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, VTCLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.09% compared to the category average of 1.08%. So, VTCLX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $10,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.

Bottom Line

Overall, Vanguard Tax-Managed Cap Appreciation Admiral ( VTCLX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard Tax-Managed Cap Appreciation Admiral ( VTCLX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on VTCLXin the Large Cap Growth 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. 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.