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Have you been searching for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? You might want to begin with Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Admiral (VWIUX - Free Report) . VWIUX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VWIUX. Since Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Admiral made its debut in February of 2001, VWIUX has garnered more than $72.70 billion in assets. The fund's current manager, James D'Arcy, has been in charge of the fund since June of 2013.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 1.73%, 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 0.65%, which places it in the top 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. VWIUX's standard deviation over the past three years is 4.41% compared to the category average of 9.67%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 3.7% compared to the category average of 8.47%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
VWIUX carries a beta of 0.66, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 0.01, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
Ratings
Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, VWIUX has 66.97% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 31.41% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of AA, and focuses on high quality securities.
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, VWIUX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.09% compared to the category average of 0.79%. VWIUX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $50,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.
Bottom Line
Overall, Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Admiral ( VWIUX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Bond, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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 VWIUX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
Have you been searching for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? You might want to begin with Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Admiral (VWIUX - Free Report) . VWIUX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VWIUX. Since Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Admiral made its debut in February of 2001, VWIUX has garnered more than $72.70 billion in assets. The fund's current manager, James D'Arcy, has been in charge of the fund since June of 2013.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 1.73%, 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 0.65%, which places it in the top 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. VWIUX's standard deviation over the past three years is 4.41% compared to the category average of 9.67%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 3.7% compared to the category average of 8.47%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
VWIUX carries a beta of 0.66, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 0.01, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
Ratings
Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, VWIUX has 66.97% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 31.41% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of AA, and focuses on high quality securities.
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, VWIUX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.09% compared to the category average of 0.79%. VWIUX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $50,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.
Bottom Line
Overall, Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Admiral ( VWIUX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Bond, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds 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.