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Is Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Admiral (VPMAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Equity Report category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Admiral (VPMAX - Free Report) . VPMAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
VPMAX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Admiral debuted in November of 2001. Since then, VPMAX has accumulated assets of about $63.98 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 14.94%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 14.79%, 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 VPMAX over the past three years is 17.28% compared to the category average of 16.2%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.03% compared to the category average of 14.44%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. VPMAX has a 5-year beta of 0.97, which means it is likely to be as volatile as the market average. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 0.36, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Examining 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 88.99% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $350.27 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Health
Retail Trade
Industrial Cyclical
This fund's turnover is about 5%, so the fund managers are making fewer trades than the average comparable fund.
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, VPMAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.31% compared to the category average of 0.99%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VPMAX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $50,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Bottom Line
Overall, Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Admiral ( VPMAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Admiral ( VPMAX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on VPMAXin 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. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.
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Is Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Admiral (VPMAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Mutual Fund Equity Report category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Admiral (VPMAX - Free Report) . VPMAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
VPMAX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Admiral debuted in November of 2001. Since then, VPMAX has accumulated assets of about $63.98 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 14.94%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 14.79%, 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 VPMAX over the past three years is 17.28% compared to the category average of 16.2%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.03% compared to the category average of 14.44%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. VPMAX has a 5-year beta of 0.97, which means it is likely to be as volatile as the market average. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 0.36, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Examining 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 88.99% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $350.27 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Health
- Retail Trade
- Industrial Cyclical
This fund's turnover is about 5%, so the fund managers are making fewer trades than the average comparable fund.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, VPMAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.31% compared to the category average of 0.99%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VPMAX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $50,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Bottom Line
Overall, Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Admiral ( VPMAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund Admiral ( VPMAX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on VPMAXin 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. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.