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Is VAIPX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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Looking for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? You may want to consider Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securites Admiral (VAIPX - Free Report) as a possible option. VAIPX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

VAIPX is a part of the Vanguard Group family of funds, a company based out of Malvern, PA. Since Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securites Admiral made its debut in June of 2005, VAIPX has garnered more than $16.91 billion in assets. John Madziyire is the fund's current manager and has held that role since November of 2021.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. VAIPX has a 5-year annualized total return of 2.9% and it sits in the middle 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 0.86%, 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. Compared to the category average of 14.03%, the standard deviation of VAIPX over the past three years is 6.9%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 5.86% compared to the category average of 12.03%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.75, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, VAIPX has a positive alpha of 1.71, 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, VAIPX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.10% compared to the category average of 0.84%. So, VAIPX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

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 Inflation-Protected Securites Admiral ( VAIPX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Bond area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into VAIPX too for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.


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