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Is Vanguard Mid-Cap Value Index Admiral (VMVAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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If you're looking for an Index fund category, then a possible option is Vanguard Mid-Cap Value Index Admiral (VMVAX - 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 responsible for VMVAX, and the company is based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Mid-Cap Value Index Admiral made its debut in September of 2011, and since then, VMVAX has accumulated about $12.21 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Donald Butler, has been in charge of the fund since September of 2011.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. VMVAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 10.82% and it sits in the middle 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 9.88%, 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. The standard deviation of VMVAX over the past three years is 23.27% compared to the category average of 19.8%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 18.55% compared to the category average of 16.11%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.13, 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. VMVAX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -6.66, 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.

Right now, 88.02% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, with an average market capitalization of $24.14 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Finance
  2. Industrial Cyclical
  3. Non-Durable
  4. Utilities
With turnover at about 16%, this fund makes fewer trades than the average comparable fund.

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, VMVAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.07% compared to the category average of 1.12%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VMVAX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $3,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.

Bottom Line

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Index, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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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