Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Bond fund could think about starting with Vanguard GNMA Investor (VFIIX Quick QuoteVFIIX - Free Report) . VFIIX bears 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

Vanguard Group is responsible for VFIIX, and the company is based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard GNMA Investor debuted in June of 1980. Since then, VFIIX has accumulated assets of about $6.55 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Joseph Marvan, has been in charge of the fund since May of 2019.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.78%, and is in the top 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 1.91%, 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 VFIIX over the past three years is 1.75% compared to the category average of 8.6%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 1.89% compared to the category average of 7.67%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.33, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, VFIIX has a positive alpha of 0, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

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, VFIIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.21% compared to the category average of 0.78%. So, VFIIX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

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

Overall, Vanguard GNMA Investor ( VFIIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on VFIIXin the Mutual Fund Bond 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.