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Is Vanguard Extended Market Index Investor (VEXMX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Are you on the hunt for a Small Cap Blend fund? You should think about starting with Vanguard Extended Market Index Investor (VEXMX - 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.
Objective
We classify VEXMX in the Small Cap Blend category, an area rife with potential choices. Small Cap Blend mutual funds usually target companies with a market capitalization of less than $2 billion. A small-cap blend mutual fund allows investors to diversify their funds among various types of small-cap stocks, which can help reduce the volatility inherent in lower market cap companies.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is responsible for VEXMX, and the company is based out of Malvern, PA. Since Vanguard Extended Market Index Investor made its debut in December of 1987, VEXMX has garnered more than $430.87 million in assets. The fund's current manager, Donald Butler, has been in charge of the fund since November of 2000.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 16.25%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 15.5%, which places it in the bottom 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. The standard deviation of VEXMX over the past three years is 25.51% compared to the category average of 16.56%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 20.45% compared to the category average of 13.6%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.24, which means 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -3.32. This means 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.
This fund is currently holding about 95.56% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $18.63 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Finance
Other
Turnover is 12%, which means, on average, the fund makes fewer trades than its comparable peers.
Expenses
As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, VEXMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.19% compared to the category average of 0.99%. So, VEXMX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
This could just be the start of your research on VEXMXin the Small Cap Blend 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 Extended Market Index Investor (VEXMX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Are you on the hunt for a Small Cap Blend fund? You should think about starting with Vanguard Extended Market Index Investor (VEXMX - 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.
Objective
We classify VEXMX in the Small Cap Blend category, an area rife with potential choices. Small Cap Blend mutual funds usually target companies with a market capitalization of less than $2 billion. A small-cap blend mutual fund allows investors to diversify their funds among various types of small-cap stocks, which can help reduce the volatility inherent in lower market cap companies.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is responsible for VEXMX, and the company is based out of Malvern, PA. Since Vanguard Extended Market Index Investor made its debut in December of 1987, VEXMX has garnered more than $430.87 million in assets. The fund's current manager, Donald Butler, has been in charge of the fund since November of 2000.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 16.25%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 15.5%, which places it in the bottom 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. The standard deviation of VEXMX over the past three years is 25.51% compared to the category average of 16.56%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 20.45% compared to the category average of 13.6%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.24, which means 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -3.32. This means 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.
This fund is currently holding about 95.56% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $18.63 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Finance
- Other
Turnover is 12%, which means, on average, the fund makes fewer trades than its comparable peers.Expenses
As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, VEXMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.19% compared to the category average of 0.99%. So, VEXMX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
This could just be the start of your research on VEXMXin the Small Cap Blend 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.