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

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Any investors who are searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds should take a look at Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Index Admiral (VMGMX - 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 VMGMX. Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Index Admiral made its debut in September of 2011, and since then, VMGMX has accumulated about $12.60 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Donald Butler is the fund's current manager and has held that role since February of 2013.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 19.65%, 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 24.59%, 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. Over the past three years, VMGMX's standard deviation comes in at 21.03%, compared to the category average of 19.11%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 17.51% compared to the category average of 15.58%. 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 1.07, so it is likely going to be more volatile than the market at large. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. With a positive alpha of 0.7, managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, VMGMX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.07% compared to the category average of 0.78%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VMGMX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $3,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.

Bottom Line

This could just be the start of your research on VMGMXin the Mutual Fund Equity Report 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 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.


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