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Is VTABX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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Looking for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? You may want to consider Vanguard Total International Bond Index Admiral (VTABX - Free Report) as a possible option. 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 VTABX. Since Vanguard Total International Bond Index Admiral made its debut in May of 2013, VTABX has garnered more than $23.99 billion in assets. Joshua Barrickman is the fund's current manager and has held that role since May of 2013.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 0.28%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of -2.73%, 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 VTABX over the past three years is 5.63% compared to the category average of 15.52%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 4.93% compared to the category average of 13.78%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

VTABX carries a beta of 0.79, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a negative alpha of -0.73, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

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, VTABX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.11% compared to the category average of 0.88%. From a cost perspective, VTABX is actually cheaper than its peers.

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

Bottom Line

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. 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.


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