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Is Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index Investor (VISVX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Investors in search of a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund might want to consider looking at Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index Investor (VISVX - 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 VISVX. Since Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index Investor made its debut in April of 1998, VISVX has garnered more than $156.95 million in assets. The fund's current manager, Gerard O'Reilly, has been in charge of the fund since April of 2016.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. VISVX has a 5-year annualized total return of 7.64% and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 14.6%, 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 VISVX over the past three years is 26.37% compared to the category average of 20.54%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 23.71% compared to the category average of 18.39%. 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 1.15, which means 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -2.33. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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 largely on equities that are traded in the United States.

This fund is currently holding about 92.95% stock in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $5.70 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  • Finance
  • Industrial Cyclical
With turnover at about 13%, this fund is making fewer trades than comparable funds.

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, VISVX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.19% compared to the category average of 1.21%. So, VISVX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $0; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Equity Report funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare VISVX to its peers 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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