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Is Vanguard REIT Index Admiraliral (VGSLX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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There are plenty of choices in the Index category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard REIT Index Admiraliral (VGSLX - Free Report) . While this fund is not tracked by the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we were able to examine other factors like performance, volatility, and cost.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VGSLX. The Vanguard REIT Index Admiraliral made its debut in November of 2001 and VGSLX has managed to accumulate roughly $20.35 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Gerard O'Reilly who has been in charge of the fund since November of 2001.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. VGSLX has a 5-year annualized total return of 7.13% and it sits in the bottom 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 10.52%, 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. VGSLX's standard deviation over the past three years is 18.07% compared to the category average of 15.57%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 16.42% compared to the category average of 13.04%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.8, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. With a negative alpha of -5.24, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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, VGSLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.12% compared to the category average of 0.80%. VGSLX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $3,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Bottom Line
This could just be the start of your research on VGSLXin the Index 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.
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Is Vanguard REIT Index Admiraliral (VGSLX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Index category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard REIT Index Admiraliral (VGSLX - Free Report) . While this fund is not tracked by the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we were able to examine other factors like performance, volatility, and cost.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VGSLX. The Vanguard REIT Index Admiraliral made its debut in November of 2001 and VGSLX has managed to accumulate roughly $20.35 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Gerard O'Reilly who has been in charge of the fund since November of 2001.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. VGSLX has a 5-year annualized total return of 7.13% and it sits in the bottom 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 10.52%, 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. VGSLX's standard deviation over the past three years is 18.07% compared to the category average of 15.57%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 16.42% compared to the category average of 13.04%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.8, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. With a negative alpha of -5.24, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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, VGSLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.12% compared to the category average of 0.80%. VGSLX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $3,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Bottom Line
This could just be the start of your research on VGSLXin the Index 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. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.