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Is Vanguard Small-Cap Index Investor (NAESX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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There are plenty of choices in the Index category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard Small-Cap Index Investor (NAESX - Free Report) . NAESX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of NAESX. The Vanguard Small-Cap Index Investor made its debut in March of 1975 and NAESX has managed to accumulate roughly $360 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. William Coleman is the fund's current manager and has held that role since April of 2016.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 9.85%, 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 3.67%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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. Over the past three years, NAESX's standard deviation comes in at 20.35%, compared to the category average of 15.73%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 22.86% compared to the category average of 17.27%. 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 1.14, 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 -5.46. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Investigating 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 85.24% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, with an average market capitalization of $7.49 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Finance
Industrial Cyclical
Technology
Turnover is 12%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than its comparable peers.
Expenses
Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, NAESX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.17% compared to the category average of 0.97%. NAESX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Don't stop here for your research on Index 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 NAESX to its peers as well 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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Is Vanguard Small-Cap Index Investor (NAESX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Index category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard Small-Cap Index Investor (NAESX - Free Report) . NAESX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of NAESX. The Vanguard Small-Cap Index Investor made its debut in March of 1975 and NAESX has managed to accumulate roughly $360 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. William Coleman is the fund's current manager and has held that role since April of 2016.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 9.85%, 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 3.67%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
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. Over the past three years, NAESX's standard deviation comes in at 20.35%, compared to the category average of 15.73%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 22.86% compared to the category average of 17.27%. 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 1.14, 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 -5.46. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Investigating 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.
Right now, 85.24% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, with an average market capitalization of $7.49 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Finance
- Industrial Cyclical
- Technology
Turnover is 12%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than its comparable peers.Expenses
Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, NAESX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.17% compared to the category average of 0.97%. NAESX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Don't stop here for your research on Index 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 NAESX to its peers as well 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.