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Should Vanguard Extended Market ETF (VXF) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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Launched on 12/27/2001, the Vanguard Extended Market ETF (VXF - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Mid Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

The fund is sponsored by Vanguard. It has amassed assets over $16.86 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

Why Mid Cap Blend

With market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion, mid cap companies usually contain higher growth prospects than large cap companies, and are considered less risky than their small cap counterparts. Thus they have a nice balance of growth potential and stability.

Blend ETFs usually hold a mix of growth and value stocks as well as stocks that exhibit both value and growth characteristics.

Costs

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.06%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.31%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Financials sector--about 18.20% of the portfolio. Industrials and Information Technology round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Slcmt1142 accounts for about 2.02% of total assets, followed by Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER - Free Report) and Blackstone Inc. (BX - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 9.78% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

VXF seeks to match the performance of the S&P Completion Index before fees and expenses. The S&P Completion Index contains all of the U.S. common stocks regularly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq over-the-counter market, except those stocks included in the S&P 500 Index.

The ETF has lost about -3.60% so far this year and was up about 19.75% in the last one year (as of 01/05/2024). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $132.07 and $166.45.

The ETF has a beta of 1.21 and standard deviation of 23.63% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 3634 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Vanguard Extended Market ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, VXF is a sufficient option for those seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

The Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF (VO - Free Report) and the iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF (IJH - Free Report) track a similar index. While Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF has $57.67 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF has $74.43 billion. VO has an expense ratio of 0.04% and IJH charges 0.05%.

Bottom-Line

Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.

To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.

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