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

The fund is sponsored by Vanguard. It has amassed assets over $21.62 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

Mid cap companies, with market capitalization in the range of $2 billion and $10 billion, offer investors many things that small and large companies don't, including less risk and higher growth opportunities. 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

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.05%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.20%.

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 18.60% of the portfolio. Information Technology and Industrials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Slcmt1142 accounts for about 1.44% of total assets, followed by Microstrategy Inc (MSTR Quick QuoteMSTR - Free Report) and Crh Plc (CRH Quick QuoteCRH - Free Report) .

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 -1.66% so far this year and is up roughly 11.75% in the last one year (as of 06/04/2025). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $150.43 and $207.15.

The ETF has a beta of 1.17 and standard deviation of 22.67% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 3390 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 reasonable 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 Quick QuoteVO - Free Report) and the iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF (IJH Quick QuoteIJH - Free Report) track a similar index. While Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF has $79.90 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF has $92.77 billion. VO has an expense ratio of 0.04% and IJH charges 0.05%.

Bottom-Line

An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also 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.