There are plenty of choices in the High Yield - Bonds category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Admiral (VWEAX Quick QuoteVWEAX - Free Report) . VWEAX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

VWEAX is classified in the High Yield - Bonds segment by Zacks, an area full of investment possibilities. High Yield - Bonds funds come in below investment grade, and are referred to as " junk " bonds for this reason. Compared to their investment grade peers, these funds are at a higher default risk, but typically pay out higher yields while posing similar interest rate risks.

History of Fund/Manager

Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VWEAX. Since Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Admiral made its debut in November of 2001, VWEAX has garnered more than $24.80 billion in assets. The fund's current manager, Michael L. Hong, has been in charge of the fund since February of 2008.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. VWEAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 7.4% and is 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 5.8%, 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. VWEAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 8.42% compared to the category average of 12.21%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 6.81% compared to the category average of 10.19%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

VWEAX carries a beta of 0.51, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 4.54, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

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, VWEAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.13% compared to the category average of 1%. From a cost perspective, VWEAX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $50,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.

Bottom Line

Overall, Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Admiral ( VWEAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the High Yield - Bonds 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 VWEAX too 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.